Honble Pandey, M.—Having been aggrieved by the order of Tehsildar, Banera (Bhilwara) dated 31.7.2007 and 22.6.2007, all the three revision petitions have been filed by the revisionist Shankarlal, Ramchandra and Kalla under sec. 84 of The Land Revenue Act 1956 (in short hereinafter referred as L.R. Act.), Since a common question of law arises as to whether on the ground of unauthorised excavation on the government land, the Tehsildar is empowered to impose fine by way of penalty or punishment or not ?, they are being disposed of by this common order.

2. The factual matrix of the petitions are as follows :-

Revision Petition 2288/2008 – Ramchandra vs. State

The Tehsildar, Banera found unauthorised excavation of 36000 cub. feet of area in khasra no. 710 charagah situated in vill. Raghunathpura by Shri Ramchandra S/o Kana of the same village. Initially the Tehsildar imposed Rs. 192000/- by way of penalty. The revisionist preferred an appeal to Addl. Collector, Bhilwara who by his order dated 12.2.2007 remanded the case back to Tehsildar with a direction to take action under rules 48-52 of the Rajasthan Minor Mineral Concession Rules 1986 (referred as MMC Rules). Consequently the Tehsildar passed his impugned order on 31.7.2007 and imposed penalty of Rs. 1,06,720/-. The revisionist again filed the appeal in the Court of Addl. Collector, Bhilwara but this time the memo of appeal was returned back to the appellant revisionist for proper presentation before the competent appellate forum under MMC Rules.

Revision Petition 2289/2008 – Shandar Lal vs. State

The facts are similar to those as mentioned above with the difference that on the ground of unauthorised excavation in khasara No. 929 of village Raghunathpura by Shri Shankarlal S/o Kishan of the same village, the Tehsildar imposed Rs. 64,000/- by way of penalty vide his impugned order dated 31.7.2007. The revisionist went in appeal twice like revisionist Ramchandra before the Addl. Collector, Bhilwara but met with the same fate.

Revision Petition 2294 /08 – Kalla vs. State

The Tehsildar, Banera found trespass over nearly two btighas of land and unauthorised excavation by Shri Kalla S/o Prabhu in Khanara No. 5426 situated in Banera and imposed Rs. 3,76,640/- by way of penalty by his impugned order dated 22.6.2007. Being aggrieved by the said order unlike the above two revisionist Shri Kalla straightway came in revision before this Board.

3. Heard the learned counsel for the revisionists Shri Madan Lal Gurjar and the learned Dy. Government Advocate Shri Ramjan Mohammad khan at this stage of admission and perused the impugned orders in question. Shri Gurjar vehemently contends that the orders passed are prima-facie on the face of record illegal, perverse and contrary to law as there is no provision in the L.R. Act or MMC Rules authorising the Tehsildar to impose penalty or punishment on the ground of unauthorised excavation over the government land. Shri Gurjar also submits that this is a clear cut transgression of jurisdiction and the Tehsildar exercised the power not vested in him either by virtue of L.R. Act or by virtue of MMC Rules.

4. Shri Ramjan Mohammed Khan appearing on behalf of the State submits that the Tehsildar, Banera acted well within his jurisdiction and exercised the powers vested in him under the MMC Rules. He also submits that the cases of unauthorised excavation over the Govt. land should be viewed strictly and every endeavour should be made to protect the interests of the State as the recovery of a huge amount of govt. revenue is pending owing to unnecessary interventions by the Courts.

5. There are two parallel and independent machineries to deal with the situation of unauthorised excavation over the government land. One machinery of revenue officers with the Collector of the Distt. as its head has been constituted under Sections 89, 90 & 91 of the LR Act. while another machinery in the hands of the officials of Mining Deptt. has been constituted under the MMRD Act and MMC

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