C.W.P No. 117 of 1987 (O&M) ::1:: IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P No. 117 of 1987 (O&M) Date of decision : August 30, 2010 Pandit Murari Lal, ...... Petitioner v. Joint Director, Panchayats Punjab and others ...... Respondents *** CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI *** Present : Mr. Mahipal, Advocate for the petitioner. None for the respondents. *** 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? *** AJAY TEWARI, J (Oral) By this writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the dismissal of his application under Section 11 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (for short `the Act'), seeking a declaration that he had become owner of the land in dispute. The petitioner had primarily relied on the khasra girdwari for the year 1948-49 wherein his predecessor-in-interest was shown in possession of the land in dispute on account of `Dharamarth' without payment of any rent. The other documents pressed into service by the C.W.P No. 117 of 1987 (O&M) ::2:: petitioner were Jamabandis for the years 1958-59, 1970-71 and 1975-76. Despite service, no one has put in appearance for the contesting respondent No.3-Gram Panchayat nor has any written statement been filed on its behalf. Before proceeding further in the case, it would be appropriate to reproduce Sections 4 and 11 of the Act as under :- “ 4. Vesting of rights in Panchayat and non- proprietors.- (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any agreement, instrument, custom or usage or any decree or order of any court or other authority, all rights, title and interests whatever in the land.-- (a) which is included in the shamilat deh of any village and which has not vested in a Panchayat under the shamilat law shall, at the commencement of this Act, vest in a Panchayat constituted for such village, and where no such Panchayat has been constituted for such village, vest in the Panchayat on such date as a Panchayat having jurisdiction over that village is constituted; (b) which is situated within or outside the abadi deh of a village and which is under the house owned by a non-proprietor, shall, on the commencement of shamilat law, be deemed to have been vested in such non-proprietor. C.W.P No. 117 of 1987 (O&M) ::3:: (2) Any land which is vested in a Panchayat under the shamilat law shall be deemed to have been vested in the Panchayat under this Act. (3) Nothing contained in clause (a) of sub-section (1) and in sub-section (2) shall affect or shall be deemed ever to have affected the :- (i) existing rights, title or interests of persons, who though not entered as occupancy tenants in the revenue records are accorded a similar status by custom or otherwise, such as Dholidars, Bhondedars, Butimars, Basikhuopahus, Saunjidars, Muqarrirdars; (ii) rights of persons in cultivating possession of shamilat deh, for more than twelve years immediately preceding the commencement of this Act without payment of rent or by payment of charges not exceeding the land revenue and cesses payable thereon; (iii) rights of a mortgagee to whom such land is mortgaged with possession before the 26th January, 1950.” 11. Decision of claims of right, title or interest in shamilat deh.- (1) Any person or a Panchayat claiming right, title or interest in any land, vested or deemed to have been vested in a panchayat under this Act or C.W.P No. 117 of 1987 (O&M) ::4:: claiming that any land has not so vested in a Panchayat, may submit to the Collector, within such time, as may be prescribed, a statement of his claim in writing and signed and verified in the prescribed manner and the Collector shall have jurisdiction to decide such claim in such manner as may be prescribed. (2) Any person or a Panchayat aggrieved by an order of the Collector made under sub-section (1) may, within sixty days from the date of the order, prefer an appeal to the Commissioner in such form and manner as may be prescribed and the Commissioner may after hearing the appeal, confirm, vary or reverse the order appealed from and may pass such order as he deems fit.” The Collector, in an ambiguous order, held that though the petitioner had been able to prove his possession over the land in dispute `much prior to the year 1980 and is continuous'. He further held that since the year 1980, the Gram Panchayat had been in possession and consequently dismissed the application. In appeal, respondent No.1 affirmed the aforesaid order holding that the petitioner had not placed any jamabandi prior to 1950 on the record and further that he had not been able to connect the land in dispute with the pre-consolidation numbers. Counsel for the petitioner has taken me through the record. Even though as per Section 4 of the Act (quoted above), the land which has C.W.P No. 117 of 1987 (O&M) ::5:: been given for Dharamarth may not be affected by the Act, yet I find that both the reasons advanced by the appellate Court are borne out from the record. It is not disputed that no jamabandi prior to 1950 has been placed on record. Further, a perusal of Annexure P-4 shows that pre- consolidation number mentioned in the khasra girdawari was No.62, whereas the jamabandi misal haqiat shows various other numbers. In the circumstances, it has to be held that the petitioner has not been able to link the number which was allegedly given as `Dharamarth' to his predecessor- in-interest with the numbers now in dispute. Consequently, no fault can be found with the impugned judgments and, therefore, this writ petition is dismissed with no order as to costs. As the main petition has since been dismissed, all the pending civil miscellaneous applications, if any, also stand disposed of. ( AJAY TEWARI ) August 30, 2010. JUDGE `kk'