- (1.) Instant intra-court appeal is directed against order of the ld.Single Judge dt.23.02.2000 filed at the instance of the legal heirs of late Panchu Lal, who was the original khatedar-assessee against whom land ceiling proceedings were initiated under the Old Ceiling Law and it was found that he had 386 bighas & 19 biswas of land and the Board of Revenue in its order finally observed that 24.65 standard acres of land deserves to be resumed, which came to be confirmed by the ld.Single Judge under the order impugned.
(2.) In order to appreciate grievance of the appellants, it will be necessary to glance through the relevant background facts. Late Panchu Lal was the original khatedar assessee against whom proceedings were initiated under the Old Ceiling Law and it was found that he had 386 bighas & 19 biswas of land and after going through the defence and material which came on record, it was observed that the land measuring 111.76 standard acres was found to be in the hands of the assessee and 50 standard acres of land was allowed to be retained and 61.76 standard acres of land was ordered to be resumed initially vide order dt.19.01.1976 which was subject matter of challenge before the Revenue Appellate Authority by Panchu Lal and order of the assessing authority came to be modified by the Revenue Appellate Authority recognizing the transfer of 96 bighas & 18 biswas of land on 03.02.1958 by the assessee Panchu Lal in favour of his sons and reduced the total holding of the land to 290 bighas which after conversion comes to 80.43 standard acres. He was allowed to retain 30 standard acres of land and the reason assigned was that his family members were reduced to two only and remaining land was ordered to be resumed. The order of the Revenue Appellate Authority came to be challenged before the Board of Revenue by Panchu Lal and it was stated by him that he had transferred 13 bighas & 2 biswas of land in favour of Rambal Meena by a registered sale-deed dt.06.03.1968, which must get recognized and taking note thereof, the Board of Revenue vide its order dt.10.08.1977 remitted the matter back to the assessing authority for deciding as to whether the transfer made in favour of Rambal Meena fulfills the conditions mandated u/S.30-DD of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act.
(3.) After the matter was remanded to the assessing authority i.e. SDO, Baran, the matter was decided afresh on 09.03.1981 and it was observed that the land measuring 13 bighas & 2 biswas (2.46 standard acres) was recognized in favour of Rambal Meena and it was deducted from the land declared surplus and thus 47.97 standard acres of land was ordered to be resumed instead of 50.43 standard acres of land. However, the assessee was still not satisfied and filed an appeal before the Revenue Appellate Authority against the order of the SDO, Baran dt.09.03.1981 and pleaded that both of his sons i.e. Radha Vallabh & Jawahar Lal had their shares in the land and being major, they could not be said to be dependent on the assessee Panchu Lal. However, the Revenue Appellate Authority accepted the contention and found that the land was ancestral to the tune of 307 bighas & 6 biswas which on conversion came to 96.27 standard acres and after parting with the share of each of his sons of 30 standard acres of land, 90 standard acres were allowed to be retained by the assessee and his sons. Apart from 90 standard acres of land, 2.46 standard acres of land was allowed on the basis of recognition of the transfer made in favour of Rambal Meena and thus, out of total area of 111.76 standard acres of land, 92.46 standard acres were found to be within permissible limit and thus, reduced excess area from 47.97 standard acres to 19.3 standard acres.;