IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.4477 of 1988 Date of decision:02.02.2010 Gokal son of Shri Ganga ....Petitioner versus State of Haryana and others ...Respondents II. Civil Writ Petition No.4478 of 1988 Ram Diya son of Shri Tulsi ....Petitioner versus State of Haryana and others ...Respondents III. Civil Writ Petition No.4479 of 1988 Bir Singh son of Shri Ganga ....Petitioner versus State of Haryana and others ...Respondents IV. Civil Writ Petition No.4480 of 1988 Ran Singh son of Shri Tulsi ....Petitioner versus State of Haryana and others ...Respondents V. Civil Writ Petition No.4481 of 1988 Sher Singh son of Shri Sunehra ....Petitioner versus State of Haryana and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Civil Writ Petition No.4477 of 1988 - 2 - Present: Mr. Sanjiv Gupta, Advocate, for the petitioner. None for the respondents. ---- 1. Whether reporters of local papers 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 ? ---- K.Kannan, J. (Oral) 1. The batch of writ petitions challenge to the order of eviction issued under the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, as applicable to Haryana. Admittedly, all the persons are in possession of the village common lands, shamlat deh and actions for eviction were taken under Section 7 of the Act. All the petitioners contended that they had raised construction at huge cost and they had been residing at the respective properties. They had themselves obtained title to the property and therefore, they could not be evicted. This objection was rejected and eviction was ordered by the Assistant Collector, 1st Grade, Karnal. In the appeal filed to the Collector, the Collector passed an order making a minor modification that if all the appellants had been allotted residential plots as per the Government policy, then the petitioners would be liable for ejectment and if such plots however, had not been given earlier, action should be taken for allotment of such residential plots within 15 days and thereafter, the persons in occupation could be dispossessed from the lands in dispute. The Collector, Karnal, had directed the concerned Revenue Officer and the BDPO to report after taking action in this regard. It was this order dated 15.03.1988 and the batch of orders passed contemporaneously that have been in challenge in the writ petitions. Civil Writ Petition No.4477 of 1988 - 3 - 2. It appears that the Collector himself had inspected the spot on 11.04.1988 and he observed that all the persons are entitled to get residential plots from the panchayat and it therefore ordered that they should be given residential plots first and thereafter, ejectment should be made. During the pendency of the proceedings, there has been an amendment to the Rules framed under the Act. Rule 12 provides that the panchayat could, with the previous approval of the State Government sell land in shamlat deh vested in it under the Act, for the purpose of residence to the inhabitants of the village, not less than floor rates notified by the State Government from time to time for a size of a plot to an individual not exceeding 250 square yards. Rule 12(4) provides that the Gram Panchayat may, with the previous approval of the Deputy Commissioner concerned sell its non-cultivable land in shamlat deh to the inhabitants, who has constructed the houses on or before 31st March, 2000, not resulting in any obstruction to the traffic and passers by, along with open space upto 25% of the constructed area or an appurtenant area upto the maximum of 200 square yards at not less than the Collector rate. 3. Having regard to the fact that all these petitioners have admittedly put up constructions which have come about prior to 31st March, 2000, they are entitled to consideration for the sale of the respective plots in their possession in terms of Rule 12. This, however, shall still be subject to the conditions stipulated under the said rules themselves and under the Principal Act. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners states that he will be satisfied that if the petitioners' respective claims are examined in terms of Rule 12 and that the Civil Writ Petition No.4477 of 1988 - 4 - possession in respect of their respective possession regularized in the manner provided under the said rule. The orders of eviction are set aside and the petitioners shall be entitled to consideration of their claims under Rule 12. If for any reason, it is found that any one of the petitioners, is entitled to an allotment and sale in the manner contemplated by the Act and the Rules, he shall be liable for ejectment in the manner provided under Section 7 of the Act. The entire exercise relating to their entitlement and for sale shall be done by the panchayat within a period of 12 weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of this order. 4. All the writ petitions are ordered on the above terms. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 02.02.2010 sanjeev