Surya Kant, J. - (1.) (Oral) - This order shall dispose of Civil Writ Petition Nos. 2557 and 4607 of 2016 as common questions of law and facts are involved in both the cases. For brevity, the facts are being extracted from CWP No. 2757 of 2016.
(2.) This writ petition is directed against the orders dated 28.04.2015 passed by the Collector, Hoshiarpur and dated 30.09.2015 of the Commissioner-cum-Appellate Authority under the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (for short, 'the 1961' Act). Vide the first order, petitioners' suit under Section 11 of the 1961 Act to declare them owners in possession of the subject-land as described in the head-note, was dismissed and vide the second order, their appeal against that order has also been dismissed.
(3.) The petitioners claim that they are in possession of the subject-land from the time of their fore-fathers and their cultivating possession is duly recorded in the revenue record, i.e., jamabandies for the years 1931-32 onwards. They further claim to be in possession to the extent of their respective share being the proprietors of the village. The precise claim thus is that the land under their possession stands 'excluded' from the definition of shamlat deh under Section 2(g)(iii) & (v) of the 1961 Act.;