- (1.) ADMITTEDLY , the land in dispute belongs to the Gram Panchayat. It appears that petitioners and private respondents are trying to grab the same by one way or the other. Against the petitioners, Gram Panchayat filed an application under Section 7 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (as applicable to Haryana) (in short 'the Act') for their ejectment. That application was allowed by the competent authority on 23.1.1996, ordering ejectment of the petitioners from the land in dispute. They failed in appeal, as also in revision. The matter came up before this Court in Civil Writ Petition Nos. 9505, 9506 and 9509 of 1997 and while disposing of Civil Writ Petition No. 9506 of 1997, the following order was passed by this Court on 18.12.2000 :- "Mr. Sanjiv Gupta, counsel for the petitioners states that during the pendency of this petition, Section 13-A has been enacted and included in the provisions of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 by the State of Haryana. In view of this position, the petitioners have an avenue where they can establish their title to the land in dispute. He prays for permission to withdraw this writ petition with liberty to approach the Collector under the provision of Section 13-A. Mr. Gupta has further pointed out that the Panchayat itself had filed a petition under Section 13-A in which the present petitioners had been impleaded. This petition of the Panchayat was dismissed for non-prosecution and that no efforts had been made to get it restored. Counsel for the respondents have no objection. In view of the above, the writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn. The petitioners shall be entitled to raise all the pleas as have been raised in this petition before the appropriate authority and if need arises before this Court in a fresh petition. The dispossession of the petitioners is stayed for a period of four weeks within which they may approach the competent authority for the grant of appropriate relief."
(2.) IT is an admitted fact that with a mala fide intention the petitioners did not file any application under Section 13-A of the Act with a view to establish that they are entitled to retain the land. Rather, in a very clever manner they filed another writ petition before this Court bearing No. 8430 of 2002 laying challenge to the vires of Act No. 9 of 1992, they were successful in getting stay of dispossession in their favour. However, that writ petition was ultimately disposed on 13.3.2003. In the meantime, the Gram Panchayat, with a view to get possession of the land in dispute, filed an application for execution of the ejectment order passed in the year 1996 and the Assistant Collector vide order dated 15.10.2003 issued warrant of possession ordering the petitioners to handover possession of the land, to the Gram Panchayat. The petitioners went in revision, which was dismissed vide order dated 18.10.2005 (Annexure P-15). Hence, this writ petition. We feel that in view of their conduct, the petitioners are not entitled to any discretionary relief from this Court. They are holding over the land of the Gram Panchayat for the last more than three decades without payment of any lease amount to the Gram Panchayat. They had unnecessarily filed applications/writ petitions to prolong their possession. Now the proceedings regarding their ejectment have become final, they have deliberately not initiated any process to get them declared as owners, as such, they are not entitled to get any benefit of the order passed by this Court on 18.12.2000 (Annexure P-4), at this stage. Under the circumstances, we feel that Gram Panchayat through its Sarpanch is entitled to get possession of the property in dispute forthwith. Shri Manchanda fairly states that he has no objection to the abovesaid arrangement, subject to outcome of the dispute pending between the Gram Panchayat and private respondent Nos. 5 to 8.
(3.) WITH the above observations, this writ petition stands dismissed and directions are issued to the Assistant Collector, Pehowa to execute the warrant of possession expeditiously, preferably within two months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. It is further directed that proceedings be also initiated against the petitioners to realise the amounts of mesne profit from the date they were ordered to be ejected from the land in dispute. However, those proceedings may not be initiated if the petitioners, of their own, hand over possession of the land in dispute to the Gram Panchayat within two months from today. The Gram Panchayat shall produce a certified copy of this order before the competent officer, as referred to above, within 15 days. Petition dismissed.;