IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.2200 of 1986 (O&M) Date of decision:25.11.2011 Balwant Singh and others ...Petitioners versus State of Haryana, through Secretary to Government, Haryana, Revenue Department, Chandigarh, and others. ....Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Harbhagwan Singh, Senior Advocate, with Ms. Dilraj Kaur, Advocate, and Mr. S.N.Pillania, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. Satbir Singh Goripuria, DAG, Haryana. ---- 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? No. 2. To be referred to the reporters or not ? No. 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest ? No. ---- K.Kannan, J. (Oral) 1. The issue involved in the case is the effect of death of the landowner and the property obtaining to the legal heirs by inheritance. In this case, the landowners was Sara Devi against whom proceedings were taken and an extent of 7.19 standard acres had been declared as on 26.08.1960. In consolidation proceedings when the nature of land was changed from non-irrigated to irrigated land, there was a reappraisal done and it was noticed that three ordinary acres were declared to be surplus in addition to the previous surplus area. After the consolidation, a fresh Form-F appears to have been prepared on 01.01.1964 and was supplied to Civil Writ Petition No.2909 of 1986 (O&M) - 2 - the landowner which was complete in all respects. However, the landowner Sara Devi died on 30.08.1964 and her property devolved with her husband Jassu and her children including Balwant Singh and Dewa Singh. As per the contentions raised by the State in its reply, the property declared as surplus was allotted on 16.09.1976 to tenants and that the possession had been delivered to the allottees on various dates commencing from 07.06.1979 to 17.12.1984. There is no proof of the State utilizing the property before the amending Act had came and after the death of the landowner Sara Devi. In terms of the law laid down by a Full Bench that dealt with Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act in Sardara Singh and others Versus The Financial Commissioner and others-2008(2) RCR (Civil) 744, the position would still be same for properties in Haryana which were subsequently governed by the provisions of the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings Act of 1972. The property in the hands of the legal heirs of the last owner Sara Devi will have to be redetermined and the surplus area determined. The impugned proceedings are quashed and remitted to the SDO, Jind for a fresh adjudication in accordance with law, taking note of the death of the landowner on 30.08.1964. 2. The writ petition is allowed. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE 25.11.2011 sanjeev