A.N.Bhandari, C.J. - (1.) This appeal under Clause 10 of the Letters Patent raises the question whether the learned Single Judge was justified in interfering with the order of a Collector passed under the provisions of the Indian Treasure-trove Act of 1878.
(2.) The facts of the case are very simple in deed. The Punjab Government had entrusted the construction of a new road between Una and Nangal to one Sardar Iqbal Singh a P.W. D. contractor. On 25-6-1954 certain workmen were levelling a portion of this road passing through the estate of Bedi Devindar Singh, which is under the superintendence of Court of Wards, when they found nine cups of gold, of the approximate value of Rs. 16,000/- embedded in the soil. Six of these cups were taken over by Daulat Singh a Mistry of S. Iqbal Singh, two by Labhu a labourer, and one by Dhanna another labourer. Bedi Madhusudhan Singh, Manager of the Court of Wards, came to know this discovery but he was unable to obtain any information form Daulat Singh or the workmen and he accordingly reported the matter to the police. On 29-6-1954 the police were able to recover nine cups of gold of all which were handed over by the Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, to the Manager of the Court of Wards for being deposited in the treasury in the name of the Court of Wards. Most of these cups bore the inscription "Bedi Sahib Singh," an ancestor of Bedi Devindar Singh.
(3.) On 10-7-1954 S. Iqbal Singh contractor under whose supervision the road in question was being constructed addressed a communication to the Collector of Hoshiarpur under the provisions of S. 4 of the Indian Treasure-trove Act in which he stated that while the digging operations were going on for levelling the road in question he came across nine gold cups of the approximate value of Rs. 16,000/- at a place belonging to Government, being a part of the road which he was levelling. He had to go to Jullundur and Hosiarpur the same day in connection with Government work and he accordingly entrusted these articles to Mistry Daulat Singh for safe custody. When he returned to Una on the evening of 28th June some police officers who were accompanied by Bawa Madhusudan Singh came and took the articles away from him. As the land from which the articles were recovered did not belong to any person, Iqbal Singh prayed that the articles in question be restored to him as the finder thereof.;