Judgment:

C.K. THAKKER, J.

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir on July 29, 2002 in Letters Patent Appeal No. 621 of 1999. By the said order, the Division Bench of the High Court allowed the appeal filed by respondent No. 2 herein and set aside the order passed by the single Judge dated November 12, 1998 in Writ Petition No. 457 of 1993.

2. Shortly stated the facts of the case are that one Makhan Singh was a Displaced Person in the year 1947 who settled down in India in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir had taken a policy decision in the year 1954 to allot agricultural land with a view to rehabilitate displaced families who were forced to leave the other side of the border (now Pakistan) in 1947 in the wake of partition and who were holding land in that area.

3. The Government, in pursuance of the said policy, passed an order being Government Order No. 254 of 1965 conferring ownership right upon Makhan Singh. The said order reads thus:

"The Government hereby grant proprietary rights on the State lands in favour of the displaced persons from non-liberated areas of th