Important Point—Settlement Officer is not empowered to substitute entries in revenue record.

Dinesh Mehta, J.

1. The petitioners being L.Rs of Ram Kishan, being the defendant in the original suit proceedings have filed the present writ petition under Article 226, 227 of the Constitution of India challenging the order dated 13.12.2002, passed by the Board of Revenue, Ajmer.

2. The brief facts of the present case are that the petitioners being L.Rs of Ram Kisan, were defendant in the suit for partition and declaration filed by the plaintiffs, on 29.09.1980, inter alia seeking their share in the agricultural land situated in village Delunda Tehsil and District Bundi, claiming the same to be under their joint ownership/ancestral land.

3. The case set-up by the plaintiff was that Ram Kisan/defendant and father of the plaintiffs Manna were real brothers, having half share each in the property, however the defendant Ram Kishan had fraudulently got the land mutated in his favour.

4. The said suit filed by the plaintiffs/petitioners came to be dismissed by the Assistant Collector vide his order dated 26.10.1996, which was challenged by way of filing appeal before Revenue Appellate Authority by the plaintiffs. The Appellate Authority, Revenue Appellate Authority dismissed the appeal vide his order dated 14.07.1997. Being aggrieved with the said order of the learned Revenue appellate Authority, the petitioner preferred an appeal before the Board of Revenue, Ajmer, which allowed the said appeal vide its order dated 13.12.2002 and held that both the courts below have misread the document Ex. D-2 and has decided the issue No. 1, 3 and 4 contrary to facts and law. In this petition, challenge has been made to the order of Board of Revenue dated 13.12.2002.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner Mr. Amit Pareek invited the attention of this court towards various documents; particularly the order of Settlement Officer (placed with the reply on Annexure-5), whereby he has settled/recorded the land in question in name of the petitioner (original defendant Ram Kishan). It will be appropriate to reproduce the findings recorded by the Settlement Officer which read thus:-

^^pqU;k o eUuk Qksr gks pqds gS pqU;k uk vkSykn gS o eUuk ds nks iq= xaxk/kj o dSyk’k gS tks eUuk dh ekStqnxh esa gh t;sZ jftLVªh ua- 7669 fnukad 28-5-46 ds vius ekek ?kklh yky iq= x.kir yky dkSe czkgeu lk0 [kVdM+ ds xksn pyk x;k Fkk tks xzke nsywUnk esa vkjkth pqU;k] jkefd’ku o [kqn eUuk dh Fkh mlesa ls xr [kljk uEcj 228@5 o 240@1@4A dks NksMdj leLFk vkjkth [kkrs dh 'ks”k 44A@ ij eq0 ykM+ dqWoj csok eUuk dkse czkgeu gky vkckn nsywUnk dk dksbZ gd o mlds nks cPps xaxk/kj o dSyk’k dk u jguk tkfgj :c: xzke ljiap o iap o xzke dkLr dkjku ds fd;k gS] vr% ;g vkjkth [kkrk ua0 6 ds ctk; rUgk jke fd’ku ds gksuk ckftc gSA**

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that from a reading the order of the learned Assistant Commissioner, it is clear that the Assistant Collector had passed the order after appreciating the evidence and the same was perfectly just and proper, inasmuch as he has given a finding based on the appreciation of the evidence that Manna, the father of the plaintiffs had gone in adoption vide document dated 24.06.1944 and further based on the recital in the document Ex. D-2, during the entries recorded by the Settlement Officer, the mother of the plaintiffs Smt. Lad Kanwar had not only accepted the factum of Manna having gone in adoption, but had also relinquished her rights and so also rights of her children speaking on their behalf, in the joint family property.

7. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, Manna had already gone in adoption in 1946 itself and passed away in 1964, as such he did not have any right in the ancestral property of Madho. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submitted that the factum of adoption had duly been proved by way of documentary as well as oral evidence by the defendant and the said issue had rightly been decided in his favour.

8. Learned counsel for the petitioner further contended that in view of admissi