- (1.) This order shall dispose of CWP No.22888 of 2012 filed by Gurmeet Kaur and others, as legal heirs of Sant Singh, against Gram Panchayat challenging the order of removal of encroachment on a public street in proceedings under Section 7 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act') and RSA No.3078 of 1997 filed by Gram Panchayat challenging the judgment and decree dated 04.04.1995 passed by the Learned First Appellate Court arising out of a suit for injunction filed by legal heirs of Gurdev Singh. Since the writ petition and the appeal pertain to alleged encroachment upon same common passage within the area of the Gram Panchayat, the same are taken up for hearing together. Firstly, we take up the Regular Second Appeal for decision.
(2.) The plaintiffs-respondents filed a suit for permanent injunction for restraining the defendants-panchayat from interfering in the possession of their house or demolishing the room marked ABCD being part of the house or in any manner dispossessing the plaintiffs from this house and the gate shown as EF in the site plan.
(3.) The claim of the plaintiffs is that the property is owned and possessed by them as they are in possession for more than 50 years and that the panchayat claimed the property in dispute as a common street and filed a petition under Section 11 of the Act, which was dismissed on 21.09.1987. The said decision has become final, thus, the property in dispute has not been declared as street. The challenge was also made to the proceedings initiated by the Panchayat under Section 21/23 of the Gram Panchyat Act, 1952 in view of the findings recorded in proceedings under Section 11 of the Act.;