Mohinder Singh vs The State of Punjab and Others

T.H.B. Chalapathi, J.—This writ petition is filed by the petitioner stating that he is occupying a portion of the land in Khewat No. 156, Khatauni No. 202 Khasra No. 40/25 measuring 19 kanals in village Bhamian Kalan, in Ludhiana District and that he has constructed a poultry shad and therefore, he is entitled to be in possession of the same and that respondent No. 3 filed an application u/s 7 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (for short ''the Act'') for eviction of the petitioner from the land under his occupation. Respondent No. 2 held that the land vested in the Gram Panchayat namel respondent No. 3 under the Act and, therefore, ordered the ejectment of the petitioner from the land/The said order was confirmed by respondent No. l. Therefore, the petitioner filed the present writ petition claiming that the property is an evacuee property and that the petitioner has been in possession of the same and, therefore, he is not liable to be evicted and that the land does not vest in the Gram panchayat.

The only controversy is, whether the property which is an evacuee property, vests in the Gram Panchayat. It is to be noted that the Punjab Legislature passed the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961, under which the evacuee interest of Shamlat deh land came to be revested in the Panchayat alongwith rights and interests of all others. Thus, the interest of the evacuee in Shamlat deh land vests in the Gram Panchayat though under the Administration of the Evacuee Property Act, 1950, the evacuee property vests in the custodian, under the said act. It has been held in Gram Panchayat of Village Jamalpur Vs. Malwinder Singh and Others, that the State Act will prevail over the Central Act and, therefore, the interest of the evacuee property will vest in the Gram Panchayat. If that is the case, the petitioner cannot claim any right, to be in possession of the property as it is the Gram Panchayat which is entitled to the common land by virtue of the provisions of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation), Act, 1954, as amended in the year 1961.

The writ petition, therefore, fails and is accordingly dismissed.