IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.1395 of 2011 Date of Decision: January 25, 2011 Bhag Singh .....PETITIONER(S) VERSUS Financial Commissioner, Appeals-II, Punjab & others .....RESPONDENT(S) . . . CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAI LAMBA PRESENT: - Mr. R.S. Chauhan, Advocate, for the petitioner. . . . AJAI LAMBA, J (Oral) 1. Unsuccessful candidate in appointment of Lambardar for village Seharkowal, Tehsil Mukerian, District Hoshiarpur, has approached this Court on the ground that Financial Commissioner has erred in law in setting aside the order of Commissioner directing appointment of petitioner Bhag Singh as Lambardar of the village 2. Bakhshish Singh, respondent No.3, was appointed as Lambardar by District Collector, CWP No.1395 of 2011 [2] Hoshiarpur. Claim of petitioner, Bhag Singh, was ignored on the ground that Bhag Sigh is a teacher in Government Middle School, Begowal and therefore, will not be easily available in the village. 3. The merit of respondent No.3, Bakhshish Singh has been considered favourably while saying that he being 42 years of age, matriculate, passed Giani, and running Karyana & STD shop in the village, can spare time for the villagers to perform duties. 4. It seems that aggrieved against the order passed by the Collector, petitioner approached the Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, Jalandhar, in appellate jurisdiction. The Commissioner has held that petitioner being highly qualified viz. M.A., B.Ed., his claim could not have been ignored by District Collector. Accordingly the appeal has been accepted and petitioner has been directed to be appointed as Lambardar of the village. 5. Respondent No.3 approached the Financial Commissioner (Appeals-II), Punjab, in appeal. The Financial Commissioner has held that District Collector has ignored Bhag Singh (petitioner) for being appointed as Lambardar, he being a Government teacher, teaching away from the village, and his availability to the CWP No.1395 of 2011 [3] villagers is doubtful on regular basis. Other than this fact, it has been said that petitioner Bhag Singh is encroacher on parts of Khasra No.45 as per report dated 17.5.2006 given by Sub Divisional Magistrate, Mukerian. 6. Learned counsel for the petitioner has vehemently argued that there is no material that could be translated into legal evidence to indicate that petitioner is an encroacher. On the second count, it has been argued that in view of law laid down by Division Bench of this Court in Sukhminder Singh vs. The Financial Commissioner and others, 1992 PLJ 325, being in Government service is not a disability for appointment as Lambardar and therefore, claim of the petitioner could not have been ignored. 7. I have considered the arguments of learned counsel. 8. Heavy reliance has been placed on the judgment rendered in Sukhminder Singh’s case (supra). Relevant portion of the judgment is contained in Para 3 which is reproduced hereunder:- “3. We do not find any merit in the contention of the learned counsel. To be in the service of the Government, cannot be a disqualification for appointment as Lambardar, especially when the post of a Lambardar is itself a civil post and dismissal of removal therefrom also attracts the provisions of Article 311 of the Constitution of India as the same are attracted in the case of other Government servants. Lambardar itself indicates that the actual performance of duties of the office of Lambardar CWP No.1395 of 2011 [4] can be done by a person other than the Lambardar himself, meaning thereby that if a Government servant is appointed as a Lambardar his appointment as Lambardar will not in any way interfere in the discharge of his duties as a Government servant. Therefore, we in complete agreement with the view taken by the learned Financial Commissioner Appeals, that a Government servant is fully eligible for appointment as Lambardar and he cannot be ignored only on that account if he is otherwise eligible and suitable for that post.” 9. On a specific query of the Court, learned counsel for the petitioner admits that petitioner is serving as teacher on transferable post, however, within the district. 10. Learned counsel further contends that at this point in time, the petitioner is posted at a place that is about 4 kilometres away from the village and therefore, petitioner would be able to discharge his functions/ duties as Lambardar. 11. I am, however, not convinced with the argument in so much as the petitioner is serving on a transferable post, though within the district. The issue of availability of Lambardar in the village is required to be considered in context of duties to be discharged by such functionary. Duties to be discharged by a headman/ Lambardar are given out in Rule 20 of the Punjab Land Revenue Rules which when extracted, read as under:- “20. Duties of headman.- In addition to the duties imposed upon headman by law for any purpose, a headman shall— CWP No.1395 of 2011 [5] (i) collect by due date all land revenue and all sums, recoverable as land revenue from the estate, or sub-division of an estate in which he holds office, and pay the same personally or by revenue money order or by remittance of currency notes through the post [or at places where treasury business is conducted by the {State Bank of India or any Scheduled Bank as notified by the State Government from time to time}, by cheque on a local Bank] at the place and time appointed in that behalf to the Revenue Officer or assignee empowered by Government to receive it; (ii) collect the rents and other income of the common land, and the account for them to the persons entitled thereto; (iii) acknowledge every payment received by him in the books of the landowners and tenants; (iv) defray joint expenses of the estate and render accounts thereof as may be duly required of him; [(v) report to the Tehsildar the death or any assignee of land revenue or Government pensioner residing in the estate, or the marriage or re-marriage of a female drawing a family pension and residing in the estate, or the absence of any such person for more than a year]; [(vi) report to the Tehsildar and Collector all encroachments on and injury to the roads, public streets and Government, Nazul and Panchayat land;] (vii) report any injury to Government buildings made over to his charge; (viii) carry out, to the best of his ability, any orders that he may receive from the Collector requiring him to furnish information or to assist in providing on payment supplies or means of transport for troops or for officers of Government on duty; (ix) assist in such manner as the Collector may from time to time direct at all crop inspections, recording of mutations, surveys, preparation of records of right, or other revenue business carried on within the limits of the estate; (x) attend the summons of all authorities having jurisdiction in the estate, assist all officers of the Government in the execution of their public duties, supply, to the best of his ability any local information which those officers may require, and generally act for the landowners, tenants and residents of the estate or sub-division of the estate in which he holds office in their relations with Government; CWP No.1395 of 2011 [6] (xi) report to the Patwari any outbreak of disease among animals [or human beings]; (xii) report to the Patwari the deaths of any right- holders in their estates; (xiii) report any breach or cut in a Government irrigation canal or channel to the nearest canal officer, or canal Patwari; (xiv) under the general or special directions of the Collector, assist by the use of his personal influence and otherwise all officers of Government and other persons, duly authorised by the Collector, in the collection and enrolment of recruits for military service whether combatant or non-combatant; (xv) render all possible assistance to the village postman, while passing the night in the village, in safeguarding the cash and other valuables that he carried.” 12. Consideration of the nature of duties indicates that a Lambardar is required to remain present, by and large at all hours, in the village for discharge of his duties. The duties involve active interaction with the villagers/ residents of the area. Headman/ Lambardar is required to be aware of the deaths in the village for various reports to be made. He is required to be aware of the pensioners residing in the estate; marriage/ re-marriage of a female drawing family pension residing in the estate or in case any such person goes absent from estate. He is also required to be aware of the encroachments on roads or Government buildings within the boundaries of estate. He is required to conduct crop inspections so as to assist the Collector. CWP No.1395 of 2011 [7] He is further required to attend the summons of authorities having jurisdiction in the estate and assist all officers of the Government in execution of their public duties. 13. In case the petitioner is appointed as Lambardar, other than the fact that petitioner is required to serve as teacher for fixed hours during the day and is serving on transferable post, he might not be available so as to effectively discharge the duties, as given out in Rule 20 of Punjab Land Revenue Rules, as extracted above, which require day to day presence in the area. So as to give assistance to the officers visiting the village, hypothetically, the presence of Lambardar may be required, however, the petitioner in view of his nature of service might be required to remain present in the school and therefore, would fail in the performance of duties of a headman/ Lambardar. 14. In Sukhminder Singh’s case (supra), it has been said that a Government servant is fully eligible for appointment as Lambardar and he cannot be ignored only on that account if he is otherwise eligible and suitable for that post. 15. In view of nature of duties and the discussion above, petitioner might be eligible, however, he is not suitable for being appointed CWP No.1395 of 2011 [8] as Lambardar. In such circumstances, the conclusions drawn by District Collector and the Financial Commissioner do not suffer from any legal infirmity and call for no interference in extraordinary writ jurisdiction. It is the District Collector who is to extract work from a headman in village in terms of his duties under the Rules. He is the best authority to see suitability of the person. A circumstance has been taken into account which is not de hors reasons. No interference in the order passed by District Collector was called for at the instance of Commissioner, and therefore, order passed by Financial Commissioner is legally tenable. 16. No ground for interference in extraordinary writ jurisdiction is made out. 17. The petition is dismissed. (AJAI LAMBA) January 25, 2011 JUDGE avin 1. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?