IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No. 4335 of 2011 Date of decision : 16.08.2011 Avtar Singh ...Petitioner Versus State of Haryana and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJIT SINGH Present: Mr. Dinesh Kumar, Advocate for Mr. M.K. Singla, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. A.S. Jattana, Addl.AG, Punjab for the State. Mr. P.S. Sekhon, Advocate for respondents No. 5 and 6. RANJIT SINGH J. Auction of two plots of land measuring 9 acres and 10 acres was held on 21.06.2010. The petitioner filed this writ petition to challenge the said auction under Section 10 (A) of Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 on the ground that the auction was held in the absence of Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) as required under the rules. Respondent No. 3 cancelled the auction on 30.09.2010. Auction was re-held and amount of ` 55,000/- was also got deposited by the petitioner but later on the Sarpanch produced the status quo order granted by respondent No. 2, which was already in his knowledge and, hence, the re-auction could not be given effect to. Appeal against the re- auction was accepted, which the petitioner has now challenged through the present writ petition. Civil Writ Petition No. 4335 of 2011 -2- No reply has been filed. However, counsel for the respondent-Gram Panchayat points out that during the pendency of this writ petition, the land has again been auctioned for the year 2011-2012. Thus, the re-auction of the land, which was under challenge would be rendered redundant. It is not known whether the petitioner had participated in the auction of the land for the year 2011-2012. Counsel for the petitioner points out that the petitioner had deposited sum of ` 55,000/-, which has not so far been returned to him. As per the Gram Panchayat, the money is lying deposited with BDPO, Block Sherpur, District Sangrur. As prayed for, respondent/BDPO is granted one month time to refund the amount, which shall carry interest at the rate of 10% per annum from the date of deposit of the date of refund. August 16, 2011 (RANJIT SINGH) rts JUDGE