IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. CWP NO.9106/2007 Date of Decision:12.11.2008. Ludhiana Masihi Welfare Society ..........Petitioner. Versus State of Punjab and others. ..........Respondents. CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH. Present: Mr.Saurabh Garg,Advocate for the petitioner. Mr.Mahabir Singh Sindhu,Additional Advocate General, Punjab for the respondents 1 to 3. Mr.SC Pathela,Advocate for Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana. JASWANT SINGH,J. Petitioner-society has filed the present writ petition praying for a direction to the respondents-State of Punjab and Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, to execute the lease deed and hand over possession of two acres of land allotted to the petitioner society for the purpose of grave yard to be used by Christian community. Briefly stated the facts are that the petitioner society is registered under the Societies Registration Act,1860 with the aim and object of looking after the problems of the Christian community. It is stated that there are number of Churches existing in Ludhiana City but there is only one graveyard and the Committee of that Church is charging Rs.3000/- per burial. The petitioner society took the initiative and approached the authorities in February 2006 for the allotment of five acres of land for the purpose of providing a graveyard free of charges. In response thereto, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, on the recommendations of a Committee appointed for that purpose, passed a resolution CWP NO.9106/2007 2 no. 252 dated 7.7.2006 for allotment of land to the petitioner society, which was approved by the Government vide letter dated 26.10.2006 (Annexure P/7) whereby two acres of land at Jamalpur was allotted to the petitioner society, on lease hold basis for a period of 30 years @ Rs.1/- per annum. The petitioner society having been denied any allotment in pursuance of the approval vide Annexure P/7, has filed the present writ petition. Respondents 1 to 3 and 4 to 7, upon notice have filed separate replies stating therein that after the aforesaid allotment dated 26.10.2006, one Kalveri Masih Samaj Welfare Society (for short Kalveri Society) made a representation for allotment of the same piece of land to them rather than the petitioner society, as it was alleged that they were the true representatives of the Christian community. Thereupon, Municipal Corporation,Ludhiana moved another resolution no.271 dated 23.11.2006 for leasing out the said two acres of land to the Kalveri Society. However, the same was rejected by the Government vide letter dated 18.1.2008. It is further averred that another resolution no.243 dated 7.12.2007 was passed by the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana-respondent no.5 for constituting a Committee for considering the issue of allotment of the said two acres of land to Christian society as the same could not be allotted to any specific society. This resolution was also rejected by the Government vide letter dated 30.4.2008 with the direction to take further necessary action to allot the aforesaid two acres of land to the petitioner society. We have heard learned counsel for the parties. Sh. Pathela, learned counsel for the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana has not been able to justify the inaction on the part of the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana to execute the lease deed and hand over the possession of the said land to the petitioner society for such a long period, despite proper sanction by the Government vide letter dated 26.10.2006. Apparently, the officials of the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, with vested interests, were CWP NO.9106/2007 3 entertaining requests from other Societies for allotment of the same piece of land for which the petitioner Society was entitled to. In the process, the cause of the Christian community was sacrificed. The apathy shown by the officials of Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana is highly deplorable. Faced with the situation the learned counsel for the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana on instructions on Mobile phone from Municipal Commissioner, Ludhiana, states that Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana shall execute the necessary lease deed and hand over the possession of the said land to the petitioner society within a period of one month from today. In view of the statement made by the learned counsel for the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana-respondent no.5, we dispose of this writ petition with a direction to respondent no.5 to execute the requisite lease deed in pursuance of the approval dated 26.10.2006 (Annexure P/7) and hand over the possession of the land to the petitioner society within one month from today. (Jaswant Singh) Judge 12.11.2008. (Satish Kumar Mittal) joshi Judge CWP NO.9106/2007 4