The court affirmed that unauthorized occupants who built houses before the cut-off date are deemed legal owners, hence cannot be evicted despite the claims of land ownership by the appellants.

JUDGMENT :

S.V.N. BHATTI, J.

1. The Appellant(s) filed a Writ Petition No. 15936 of 1989 in the High Court of Allahabad seeking Certiorari quashing the Notice dated 07.06.1988 issued under Section 123 of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as ‘U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act’), Report of the Tehsildar, Kairana dated 24.05.1989 and the Order dated 20.06.1989 passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer (for short ‘SDO’), Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh and sought a further relief in the nature of Mandamus directing the Respondents not to give effect to the said order of the Sub Divisional Officer.

2. The dispute pertains to a piece of land bearing Plot No. 2362, area 1 bigha 14 biswas, situated in Shamli, District Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Conflict is between the Appellant(s)/Ram Narain (since deceased) & others, who purchased the land and claimed rights as owners, and the Respondents/Suraj Bhan & others, who are agricultural labourers occupying the land. The issue is whether the Respondents’ unauthorised occupation of the private land could be statutorily regularised under Section 123 of the U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act, effectively transferring ownership to them, or if the Appellants are entitled to evict them based on their title and a declaration converting the land to non-agricultural use under Section 143 U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act. The High Court, while deciding the Writ Petition No. 15936 of 1989, in its Judgment dated 07.09.2007, has held that (2) creates a “legal fiction” and a non-obstante clause that deems the land settled with the house owners in possession as on 30.06.1985, regardless of the declaration under U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act.

3. A few dates are chronologically stated as a prelude to the main narrative. Between 1960 and 1965, the State of Uttar Pradesh and the Gaon Sabha tried multiple times to evict Khazan Singh, claiming the subject land belonged to the State. After the discharge of Notices under Rule 115-C of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Rules, 1952, issued in the years 1960 and 1962 and subsequent dropping of the Eviction Proceedings under the Uttar Pradesh Public Land (Eviction and Recovery of Rent and Damages) Act, 1959 ¹ [ Uttar Pradesh Public Land (Eviction and Recovery of Rent and Damages) Act, 1959 was repealed by Section 19 (1)(b) of the Uttar Pradesh Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1972], in the favour of Khazan Singh’s in 1965, he was recognised as the Sirdar/tenure holder. Further, in 1971, a suit under Section 229 -B of the U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act was decreed in favour of Khazan Singh by the Additional Commissioner, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and the Board of Revenue, U.P., at Allahabad, upheld the same vide an Order dated 10.05.1978. Admittedly, around 1976–1977, the private Respondents, alleged to be the members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community, occupied the subject land. After Khazan Singh died in 1979, the names of his successors-in-interest were mutated. His grandsons sold the land to the Appellants by a registered Sale Deed dated 10.08.1984. On 11.10.1984, the Appellants obtained a declaration under Section 143 of the U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act. This declaration legally converted the land use from “agricultural” to “residential/abadi”. The Appellants argue that once this declaration was made, the provisions of the U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act do not apply to the land. In 1988, a Notice was issued under Section 123 of the U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act against the Appellants to regularise the occupants’ possession. Subsequently, on 20.06.1989, the SDO, Kairana, passed an order directing that the names of the Respondents/occupants be recorded in the revenue records. This was based on a Tehsildar’s Report, Kairana, stating that