Venkatachala, J. - (1.) The above Civil Appeals and the Special Leave Petitions (Civil) are that of the State of Haryana. While the judgment of Civil Writ Petition No. 6799 of 1974 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court (Karnal Co-op. Farmers Society Ltd., Pehowa v. Gram Panchayat, Pehowa etc., 1976 Current Law Journal (Civil), 417) and other judgments rendered following it are impugned in Civil Appeals Nos. 2605, 2607, 2608, 2610, 2611 and 26l5 of l977 and Special Leave Petitions (Civil) Nos. 1108 and 3042 to 3095 of 1978, the judgment in Civil Writ Petition No. 565 of 1981 of the same High Court (Bajinder Singh v. The Assistant Collector Ist Grade, Ghula, Distt. Kurukshetra, 1983 (85) Pun LR 528) and other judgments rendered following it are impugned in Civil Appeals Nos. 1381 to 1387 of 1990. Since common questions arise for our decision in these Appeals and Special Leave Petitions, all of them could conveniently be disposed of by this judgment.
(2.) The High Court's judgments appealed against in these Appeals and Special Leave Petitions are since based on its view of unconstitutionality of certain provisions in the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Haryana Amendment Act, 1974 - Amendment Act of 1974 and the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Haryana Amendment Act, 1980 - Amendment Act of 1981, which have amended the provisions of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act of 1961 - the principal Act, it would be advantageous to understand at the outset the historical background of the principal Act and the circumstances which led the State of Haryana to enact the Amendment Act of 1974 and further to enact the Amendment Act of 1981.
(3.) Villages in pre-independent rural India having village common or communal lands meant for use by the whole village community was their common redeeming feature, in that, the inhabitants of the villages whose occupation was predominantly agriculture dependent on their live-stock needed to give manure to their lands, to cart manure to their lands, to plough their lands to carry on several other incidental agricultural operations, required common lands for using as pasturages, pools, ponds, thrashing-floors, cowdung pits, hay stack areas, tethering areas and the like. Villages in the States of Punjab and Pepsu were of no exception. With the dawn of independence and rise in land value even in villages, powerful and greedy inhabitants in villages became grabbers of Village common lands depriving their use to the village community. Some of the States which were enabled by the Constitution of India to organise village Panchayats as units of Self Government and encourage growth of agriculture and animal husbandry in villages by suitable legislative measures took prompt steps to legislate on common lands of the village, so as to restore such lands for communal use and common benefit of all the inhabitants of the villages by vesting them in their respective Panchayats. Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act. 1953 and Pepsu Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1954 are two legislative measures enacted by the respective States of Punjab and Pepsu to vest the common lands of villages in their Panchayats for common benefit and advantage of the whole community of the village concerned. When under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 Pepsu State merged in Punjab State, the said Pepsu Act continued to operate in the area of erstwhile Pepsu. When the operation of two legislative measures in the new Punjab State, which were in some respects not common, was found to be undesirable, the State of Punjab enacted the Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 referred to by us already as 'principal Act' and made it operative in the whole territory of Punjab State, with effect from 4th day of May, 1961. By the principal Act the two earlier Acts which had covered the field till then were repealed, as well. The principal Act, as stated in its preamble, sought by its provisions to consolidate and amend the law regulating the rights in village common lands popularly and colloquially known as 'shamilat deh' and 'abadi-deh'. As 'shamilat deh' was not defined in the repealed Acts adverted to and there prevailed uncertainty as to its nature, the principal Act defined 'shamilat deh' in S. 2(g) thereof in an endeavour to achieve certainty, thus: "(g) 'Shamilat-deh or Charand' includes (1) Land described in the revenue records as shamilat deh or charand excluding abadi-deh; (2) Shamilat tikkas: (3) Land described in the revenue records as Sharnilat Tarafs Pattis, Pannas and Tholas and used according to revenue records for the benefit of the village community or a part thereof or for common purposes of the village; (4) Lands used or reserved for the benefit of the village, community including, streets, lanes, playground, schools, drinking wells or ponds within abadi-deh or gora-deh; and (4a) "Vacant land situate in abadi-deh or gora-deh not owned by any person"; (5) Lands in any village described as banjar quadim and used for common purposes of the village, according to revenue records; provided that Shamilat-deh or 'charand' at least to the extent of twenty five per cent of the total area of the village does not exist in the village; but does not include land which: (i) becomes or has become Shamilat-deh or 'charand' due to river action or has been reserved Shamilat or charand in village subjects to river action except Shamilat-deh or 'Charand' entered as pastures pond, or playground in the revenue records; (ii) has been allotted on quasi permanent basis to displaced persons; (iii) has been partitioned and brought under cultivation by individual landholders before the 26th January, 1950; (iv) having been acquired before the 26th January, 1950, by a person by purchase or in exchange for proprietary land from a cosharer in the shamilat deh or charand and is so recorded in the jama-bandi or is supported by a valid deed; (v) is described in the revenue records as Shamlat Taraf, Patti, Panna and Thola and not used according to revenue records for the benefit for the village community or a part thereof or for common purpose of the village; (vi) lies outside the abadi-deh and is used as gitwar, bara, manure pit or house or for cottage industry; (vii) is shamilat-deh or 'charand' of village included in the fourteen revenue estates called Bhojas of Naraingarh Tehsil of Ambala District; (viii) was shamilat or 'charand' was assessed to land revenue and has been in the individual cultivating possession of cosharers not being in excess of their respective shares in such shamilat-deh or charand on or before the 28th January, 1950; or (ix) is used as a place of worship or for purposes subservient thereto." By Section 2(h) thereof meaning of 'shamilat-law' was given thus: "(h) 'shamilat-law' means:- (i) in relation to land situated in the territory which immediately before the 1st November, 1956, was comprised in State of Punjab; the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1953, or (ii) in relation to land situated in territory immediately before the 1st November, 1956, was comprised in the State of Patiala and East Punjab States Union; the Pepsu Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1954." ;