KELA DEVI Vs. FINANCIAL COMMISSIONER HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Nathi owned 36 Standard Acres 8 Units of land in village Bhanguri out of which 6 Standard Acres 8 Units were declared surplus by the Collector Surplus Area, Nuh, on the 25th November, 1959, as he was entitled to 30 Standard Acres as his permissible area. Nathi died on the 14th July, 1965, and the petitioners are his widow and mother respectively who claim to be his heirs. It has been asserted by the petitioners that the land remained unutilised till the death of Nathi on the 14th July, 1965, and after his death the land having been divided into two equal shares, each of the petitioners became a small landowner and, therefore, no part of the land could be declared as surplus or utilised as such. The petitioners made an application to the Collector, Surplus Area, Nuh, under Section 10-A(b) of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 (hereinafter called the Act) to the effect that the petitioners were heirs of Nathi deceased and had become small landowners after his death and since the land declared surplus in his life time had not been utilised nor any tenant had been settled on that land, it should be excluded from the surplus pool. The Collector rejected the petition by his order dated the 13th March, 1967, a copy of which is annexure 'A' to the writ petition. The petitioners filed an appeal against that order before the Commissioner Ambala Division which was dismissed on the 30th January, 1968, and a copy of the order is annexure 'B' to the writ petition. The petitioners filed a further revision petition before the Financial Commissioner which was also rejected in limine, on the 8th May, 1968, and a copy of the order is annexure 'C' to the writ petition. Thereafter, the petitioners filed the present writ petition in this Court praying for the quashing of the said orders of the Collector, the Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner.

(2.) The argument advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioners is that on the basis of Rules 18 to 20-D of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1956 (hereinafter called the Rules) the surplus land cannot be said to have been utilised until the allottees take possession of the land allotted to them and execute a Qabuliat or a Patta as given in annenure 'C' appended to the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Rules, 1953 in favour of the landowner. Since the possession of the land declared surplus was not given to the allottees before the death of Nathi, the land could not be said to have been utilised under Section 10-A of the Act. The stand of the respondents is that the land is said to have been utilised the moment it is allotted to the tenants and it is of no consequence whether they take possession of the land or not. This matter came up for decision before Shri A.L. Fletcher, Financial Commissioner, in Nand Lal and another v. The Punjab State, 1966 PunLJ 80, and the learned Financial Commissioner held as under :-

(3.) The Rules with regard to the resettlement of tenants ejected or liable to ejectment are contained in part 4 of the Rules. Rules 20-A, 20-B, 20-C and 20-D are in these terms :-