1995 Supreme(Raj) 523
Rajasthan High Court
Honble B.R. ARORA & D.C. DALELA, JJ.
Poosa Ram - Appellant
Versus
The Board of Revenue and Others - Respondents
D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 179 of 1986
Decided On : September 18, 1995
Advocates Appeared:
B.N. Calla, for Petitioner C.R. Jakhar, Additional Government Advocate
Headnote:Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, Sec. 125 and Sec. 136 — Scope — Land Record Officer is competent and has power even after the settlement operations are over to correct the erroneous entries in the annual registers which are the parts of the Record of Rights. (Para 7)
Judgement Key Points
Key Points:
- The Land Record Officer has power under Section 136 to correct errors crept into the Record of Rights during settlement/survey operations, and not to change the nature of land after settlement operations are over (!) .
- Section 136 deals with disputes relating to entries in the annual register, to be decided in accordance with Sections 123, 124, or 125, and supports corrections of errors during settlement operations, not converting land class after settlement (!) (!) .
- There is authority (Division Bench judgments cited) that after settlement operations are over, the Land Record Officer may correct the Record of Rights under Sections 136 and 125, but not to convert Gair Mumkeen Land into cultivatory Barani land; corrections can be made post-settlement if arbitrariness occurred (!) (!) .
- In the present case, the petitioner’s correction order under Section 136 was set aside solely on jurisdiction grounds, which the court found incorrect; the petition is allowed, and the matter remanded for merit-based decision by the Revenue Appellate Authority (!) (!) .
- Maintenance and updating of maps, field books, and the annual register after settlement operations are over are duties of the Land Record Officer under Sections 131-133, with corrections allowed under 136 for errors during settlement (!) .
- The dispute involved whether corrections after settlement could be made, and the judgment holds that corrections to errors crept in during settlement can be made after settlement operations are over under Section 136 (!) (!) .
How to determine whether the Land Record Officer has power under Section 136 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act to correct entries in the Record of Rights after settlement operations are over?
What is the interpretation of Section 136 read with Sections 125, 131, 132 regarding correction of errors crept into the Record of Rights during settlement operations?
What is the correct remedy and authority when a Land Record Officer's order under Section 136 is challenged, and should appeals be decided on merit?
Honble ARORA, J. — Petitioner Poosa Ram and respondent No. 7 Mani Ram s/o Kishna Ram Jat, were the recorded Khatedar tenants of 32 Bighas one Biswa of land bearing old Khasra Number 26 and new Khasra Numbers 368, 374, 377 and 379, situated in village Dariyasar tehsil Nohar district Sri Ganganagar. Earlier to the last settlement, two Bighas of this land, situated in new Khasra Number 368, was entered in the Revenue Record as the Agricultural land. In the last settlement, these two Bighas of land was entered as "Gair Mumkin Aabadi land". The entry was made without notice to the petitioner and respondent No.7 — the Khatedars of this land. After the settlement Operations were over, when the petitioner came to know that his land has been entered in the revenue record as the Gair Mumkin Aabadi land, he moved an application under Section 136 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act (for short, the Act) before the Sub-Divisional Officer cum Land Record Officer, Nohar, for the correction of the entry. The Land Record Officer, Nohar, by its order dated 1.8.78, allowed the application filed by the petitioner and ordered for correction of the entry. He, also, directed the Tehsildar, Nohar, vide Annexure 3, to make necessary Correction in the Jamabandi. In pursuance to this order, necessary corrections in the revenue record were made. Dissatisfied with the order dated 1.8.78, passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer Nohar, ordering for the correction of the entry, Sarvashri Mani Ram, Narain, Budha Ram and Megha Ram filed an appeal before the Revenue Appellate Authority, Bikaner (Camp Sri Ganganagar). The Revenue Appellate Authority, by its judgment dated 18.9.89 allowed the appeal filed by Mani Ram and others, set-aside the order passed by the learned Sub-Divisional Officer, Nohar on the ground that the Sub- Divisional Officer (Land Record Officer), Nohar, after the settlement operations are over under Section 136 of the Act, had no power to correct any entry in the record. The petitioner and respondent No.7 Mani Ram, aggrieved with the order dated 18.9.79, passed by the Revenue Appellate Authority, preferred an appeal before the Board of Revenue for Rajasthan, Ajmer. The appeal, filed by Poosa Ram and Mani Ram, was dismissed by the learned Member of the Board of Revenue by his judgment dated 29.10.85. The appeal was dismissed on the ground that after the settlement operations are over, the Sub-Divisional Officer had no power to correct the entry in the revenue record and the only remedy left with the applicant is to file a revenue suit for correction of the entries. A review petition filed by the petitioner before the Board of Revenue was, also, dismissed by the Board by the order dated 31.12.85. Aggrieved with the judgment dated 29.10.85 passed by the Board of Revenue affirming the judgment dated 18.9.79 passed by the Revenue Appellate Authority, Bikaner (Camp Sri Ganganagar), the. petitioner has filed the present writ petition.
(2) The controversy involved in the present case is : whether correction of the entry in the Record of Rights/Annual Register can be made by the Land Record Officer under Section 136 of the Act after the survey or settlement operations are over? Chapter VII of the Act deals with the survey and settlement/record operations. Sections 106 to 112 of the Act deal with survey or re- survey of the land and preparation of maps and Field Book. Sections 113 to 127 of the Act deal with various aspects and disputes relating to preparation of the Record of Rights. Sections 128 to 130 of the Act deal with the boundary disputes, obligation of the holders as to boundary marks, penalty for injury to or removal of the boundary marks. Section 131 to 137 of the Act deal with the maintenance of maps, field book, annual register and to up date them by recording the changes due to succession or transfer after survey or settlement operations are over. Section 131 of the Act deals with the maintenance of the maps and the field book after the survey
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