IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 11137 of 2009 Date of decision : 25.11.2009 Gurvinder Singh ….. Petitioner Versus State of Haryana and Others ….. Respondents Present: Mr. Sanjiv Gupta, Advocate for the petitioner. **** S.S. SARON, J. A petition was filed by the petitioner under Section 42 of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 (“Act” – for short) before the Director Consolidation, Haryana exercising the powers under Section 42 of the Act (respondent No.2) praying that mutation No.273 which has been sanctioned in favour of the petitioner be incorporated in the revenue records in terms of Section 22 of the Act. During the course of hearing, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the consolidation proceedings were carried out in the village in 1961. The land in question was owned by Mukhtiar Singh son of Narata Singh who is the maternal grandfather of the petitioner. It is submitted that the petitioner got the said land on the basis of release deed dated 22.5.2003 executed by Mukhtiar Singh. On the basis of the said release deed, mutation No.273 (Annexure P1) has been sanctioned in favour of the petitioner by the CWP No. 11137 of 2009 [2] Assistant Collector IInd Grade, Ambala on 16.9.2005. Therefore, it is submitted that the same is liable to be incorporated in the record of rights as per Section 22 of the Act. In order to appreciate the contention of the petitioner, the provisions of Section 22 of the Act may be noticed which reads as under :- “22. Preparation of record of rights:- (1) The Consolidation Officer shall cause to be prepared a new record-of-rights in accordance with the provisions contained in Chapter IV of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (XVII of 1887), insofar as these provisions may be applicable, for the area under consolidation giving effect to the repartition (and order in respect thereof made) under the preceding section. (2) Such record of right shall be deemed to have been prepared under Section 32 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887.” A perusal of the said Section shows that the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 insofar as the provisions of the Act are concerned may be applicable for the areas under consolidation giving effect to the repartition and order in respect thereof made under the preceding Section i.e. Section 21. Therefore, the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 is applicable only when the area is under consolidation. Otherwise, it is clearly inapplicable and mutations are to be sanctioned by the revenue authorities in accordance with the CWP No. 11137 of 2009 [3] provisions of Chapter IV of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887. The mutation of the land in favour of the petitioner has already been sanctioned on 16.9.2005 (Annexure P1) by the Assistant Collector-II Grade, Ambala. Therefore, in my view the petition filed by the petitioner before the Director Consolidation under Section 42 of the Act for sanctioning of mutation was wholly misconceived. In any case, the order dated 14.2.2009 (Annexure P4) which is impugned by the petitioner is inconsequential as the Director has merely found that the case regarding mutation No.273 is pending and under such circumstances, no proceedings can be carried out under Section 42 of the Act. Learned counsel for the petitioner, however, submits that in fact no case is pending regarding mutation No.273 and the said conclusion has been reached at only on the assertion of the learned counsel for the respondents who submitted that mutation No.273 had wrongly been sanctioned and against which a case is pending before the civil Court. In case a civil suit is pending, as is contended by the learned counsel for the petitioner, then the said order dated 14.2.2009 (Annexure P4) would in any case be inconsequential. Even otherwise, as already noticed, the Director Consolidation has no jurisdiction in exercise of powers under Section 42 of the Act to sanction mutation in respect of land where consolidation operations are already completed. In the present case, the consolidation operations were completed in 1961 and the provisions of Section 22 of the Act which are sought to be invoked only make the provisions of Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 insofar as the said provisions may be applicable CWP No. 11137 of 2009 [4] for the area under consolidation. Even otherwise the rights of the parties are to be determined by a civil Court and a suit in that regard is already pending. Accordingly, there is no merit in this petition and the same is dismissed. (S.S. SARON) JUDGE November 25, 2009 amit