1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR : O R D E R : S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.3651/2007. (Yudhishthar Vs. State of Rajasthan & Others) DATE OF ORDER : December 03, 2008 P R E S E N T Hon'ble Mr. Justice Gopal Krishan Vyas _______________________________ Mr. J.S. Chaudhary for petitioner. Mr. S.L. Jain for the respondent(s). BY THE COURT : In this writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the order dated 22.02.2007, Annex.-6 passed by the Addl. District Collector (Admn.), Chittorgarh whereby the patta issued in favour of the petitioner by the Gram Panchayat, Khodip, Panchayat Samiti Bhadesar was cancelled. The case of the petitioner is that upon revision filed by respondent No.3, the patta issued in favour of the petitioner by the Gram Panchayat, Khodip was cancelled by the Addl. District Collector on illegal grounds. According to the petitioner, the said patta was rightly issued in favour of the petitioner after observance of the procedure laid down in the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act and the Rules framed thereunder. Further, it is submitted that the revision petition was filed without any basis 2 of law but the Addl. District Collector (Admn.), Chittorgarh allowed the revision petition filed under Section 97 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act vide the impugned order dated 22.02.2007 solely on the grounds that the patta in question was issued on 06.12.2001, prior to the transfer of the land to the Panchayat by the Government; and, secondly on the ground that patta was issued free of cost without any reason. According to the petitioner, both the above grounds are baseless because as per the petitioner the Sarpanch filed reply before the Additional District Collector (Admn.), Chittorgarh in which it is admitted that in the year 2001 the proceedings for conversion of land into abadi was initiated and since the proceedings was initiated and all formalities were completed by the Gram Panchayat, therefore, while treating the said land as Panchayat land patta was issued in which there is no illegality. Further, according to the petitioner, there is provision under Section 158 of the Panchayat Act for granting patta free of cost for any reason. Therefore, the order passed by the Addl. District Collector is patently illegal order and deserves to be quashed. Learned counsel for respondent No.3 while opposing the prayer of the petitioner submits that the petitioner has not brought to the notice of the Court that the patta has been issued by the Sarpanch Udai Lal who is father of the petitioner, that too, 3 without any cost; meaning thereby, on this ground alone, the patta issued in favour of the petitioner can be defined as illegal because the patta has been issued by the father in favour of his children free of cost who was at the relevant time Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat. Learned counsel for the respondent further argued that admittedly the land was converted into abadi land in the year 2002 and was given to the Gram Panchayat for the purpose of abadi land and this fact is not in dispute and patta was issued prior to the said transfer coming into effect i.e., on 06.12.2001; meaning thereby, the said land upon which patta was issued was not available at the relevant time, therefore, the learned Addl. District Collector (Admn.), Chittorgarh has not committed any illegality while cancelling the patta. It is also argued that no reason has been assigned by the petitioner for allotting the patta free of cost. Therefore, no interference is required in this writ petition and the order passed by the authority is in consonance with the provisions of law. I have considered the rival submissions made before me by both the parties and perused the pleadings. Undisputedly, the patta was issued in favour of the petitioner by his father Udai Lal when he was Sarpanch in the campaign 'Prashasan Gaon ke Sang – 2001'. It is also not in dispute that the said land was declared abadi in the month of 4 December 2001 and the patta was issued on 06.12.2001; meaning thereby, the land was not available to the Gram Panchayat for issuing any patta in respect thereof. There is no question of issuing patta by the father in favour of his son, therefore, on this ground alone, no interference is required in this case because the authority has observed in the order that the day on which the patta was issued the land was not available to the Gram Panchayat for any type of allotment. I have perused Rule 158 of the Rajasthan Panchayat Rules, 1996. Under the said rule, obviously patta can be issued free of cost to the weaker sections of the society but upon perusal of the reply of the Gram Panchayat before the Addl. District Collector, it is nowhere stated that patta was issued in favour of the petitioner under the category of weaker section. Obviously the petitioner is son of the Sarpanch Udai Lal, therefore, the petitioner cannot be treated to be a member of weaker section of the society. Therefore, in my opinion, the finding given by the Addl. District Collector (Admn.), Chittorgarh for cancellation of the patta does not require any interference. Hence, this writ petition is dismissed. (Gopal Krishan Vyas) J. Ojha, a.