IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.6583 of 2010 Date of Decision: May 24, 2011 Gram Panchayat, Village Jasowal, Post Office Sidhuwal, Tehsil & District Patiala .....PETITIONER(S) VERSUS State of Punjab & others .....RESPONDENT(S) . . . CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAI LAMBA PRESENT: - Mr. Kumar Vishav Aggarwal, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Manoj Bajaj, Additional Advocate General, Punjab, for respondent Nos.1 to 6. None for respondent No.7. . . . AJAI LAMBA, J (Oral) 1. As per the stand of the official respondents in reply, land of Gram Panchayat cannot be allowed to be exchanged as it would not benefit the interest of the Gram Panchayat or the Gram Sabha. The land at the back of the Stadium has been inspected and has been found suitable for the construction of water works/ water tank. CWP No.6583 of 2010 [2] 2. Block Development & Panchayat Officer, Patiala, vide Memo No.11 dated 28.1.2010 placed on record as Annexure R-1/3, has concluded that exchange of land is neither in public interest nor in interest of Panchayat. 3. Exchange of Gram Panchayat land is permissible under Rule 5 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964 (for short, ‘the Rules’), as applicable to Punjab. As per the provisions of Rule 5 of the Rules, a Panchayat, if it is of the opinion that it is necessary so to do for the benefit of the inhabitants of the village, may with the prior approval of the Government, transfer any land in shamilat deh by exchange with the land of an equivalent value. 6. Report of Block Development & Panchayat Officer indicates that it is not in public interest that the land be exchanged. 7. Ordinarily, it is the objective consideration of the authorities to conclude whether exchange of Gram Panchayat land would be for the benefit of the Gram Sabha or not. The Block Development & Panchayat Officer, on the basis of relevant material has already concluded that it would not be in public interest to allow exchange of land. 8. Be that as it may, I find that the Government has not yet taken a decision under Rule 5 of the Rules. 9. This petition is disposed of being pre-mature as CWP No.6583 of 2010 [3] Government has not yet taken a decision as to whether the Gram Panchayat should be allowed to exchange the Gram Panchayat land under Rule 5 of the Rules or not. 10. Deputy Commissioner, Patiala, would be required to forward the case to the Government for final decision. (AJAI LAMBA) May 24, 2011 JUDGE avin 1. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?