- (1.) This order shall dispose of the aforesaid writ petitions directed against the common order passed by the Director Rural Development and Panchayats exercising the powers of the Commissioner under the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulations) Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act') on 08.05.2013. The said appeals filed by the petitioners were directed against the order dated 28.02.2011 passed by the Divisional Deputy Director, Panchayat exercising the powers of Collector under the aforesaid Act.
(2.) The Gram Panchayat initiated the proceedings under Section 7 of the Act against the petitioners herein which were adjourned sine die with liberty to the Gram Panchayat to seek ownership declared from the competent court. Thereafter, the panchayat filed a petition under Section 11 of the Act which has since been allowed by the Collector and the appeal stands dismissed by the Commissioner.
(3.) The petitioners resisted the proceedings under Section 11 of the Act on the basis of the decree of the Civil Court granted on 11.05.1972 declaring the present petitioners to be owners of the suit land. The Learned Collector relied upon the judgment in Gram Panchayat Naulakha and Ujjagar Singh and others, 2000 7 SCC 543that a collusive decree can be ignored in subsequent proceedings and there is no necessity to file separate suit to challenge such decree. Initially appeal filed by the Petitioners directed against the order passed by the Collector was dismissed on18.1.2012 but this Court set aside the said order on 14.09.2012 in CWP No. 9583 of 2012 and other connected petitions and directed the Commissioner to decide the issues afresh thereafter. The learned Commissioner exercising the powers of the Appellate Authority observed as under: "After perusal of the written arguments of both the parties and the record on the file, I have come to the conclusion that as per Jamabandi 1980-81 the land in dispute is Nagar Panchayat Deh i.e. Gram Panchayat. In the cultivation column, name of different persons have been entered. The appellant has not produced any Jamabandies in the lower court in order to show their continues possession/ownership, on the basis of which the benefit could be given to them. From the Civil Court judgment it transpires that the decree dated 11.05.1972 has been taken by conniving with the Ex-Sarpanch whereas the Shamlat Deh cannot be partitioned again in the name of the shareholders. Under Section 13 of the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) Act, 1961, the Civil Court has no jurisdiction to decide the dispute of Shamlat Deh or Panchayat land. In the record of the lower court no satisfactory evidence is available in the basis of which the appellants had the rights of owner of the land in dispute. The appeal has no merits therefore the appeal is dismissed and the impugned order is upheld.";