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2008 Supreme(Raj) 712

[Citation : RLW 2008(2) RJ 845 (Raj.)]
(Rajasthan High Court)
Jaipur Bench
Balkishan (Dead) Vs. State of Raj. & Ors. (Roy, C.J.)
HONBLE NARAYAN ROY, C.J.;
HONBLE MOHAMMAD RAFIQ, J.
Balkishan S/o Devilal (since deceased)
Suresh Chand Bohra
Versus
State of Rajasthan & Ors.
D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No. 1046 of 2008, decided on 30th May, 2008

Advocates Appeared
K.C. Sharma, for Appellant

Headnote:Rajasthan Land Revenue (Allotment of Land for Agricultural Purposes) Rules, 1976, Rule 2(iii-B), Proviso (a) to Sec. 4(v)(d) — Cancellation of allotment of land — Appellant was employee in Municipal Board — Secured allotment of 22 bighas 10 biswas land within Municipal area projecting himself as bonafide agriculturist in 1972 — S.D.O. cancelled allotment in 1999 — Held — Merely delay in cancellation of allotment even after conferment of khatedari rights as per Rule 14(1) would not be impediment for cancellation of such allotment if the same has been obtained by exercising fraud or by concealment of fact — Appellant being an employee of Municipal Board was not bonafide agriculturist. (Paras 5 & 7)

       Appeal dismissed.

       Appellant secured the allotment of land projecting himself as a bonafide agriculturist, thus making misrepresentation and exercising fraud, conferment of khatedari rights and delay would not come in the way of the respondents to cancel such allotment. (Para 9)

        ktLFkku Hkw jktLo ¼—f"k iz;kstukFkZ Hkw vkoaVu½ fu;e] 1976] fu;e 2¼iii-[k½] /kkjk 4¼v½¼?k½ dk ijUrqd ¼d½ & Hkwfe dk vkoaVu fujLr djuk & vihykFkhZ uxj ikfydk cksMZ dk deZpkjh Fkk & 1972 esa uxj ikfydk lhek ds Hkhrj 22 ch?kk 10 fcLok Hkwfe Lo;a dks ln~Hkkoh —"kd ds :i esa isk dj vkoafVr djok;h & mi[k.M vf/kdkjh us 1999 esa vkoaVu fujLr fd;k & vfHkfu/kkZfjr & vkoaVu fujLr djus esa foyEc ek= vkSj og Hkh [kkrsnkjh vf/kdkj izkIr gksus ds ipkr~ ,sls vkoaVu dks fujLr djus gsrq fu;e 14¼1½ ds vuqlkj dksbZ ck/kk ugha gksxh] ;fn vkoaVu diV dk iz;ksx dj ;k rF;ksa dks fNikdj vftZr fd;k gks & vihykFkhZ uxj ikfydk cksMZ dk deZpkjh gksus ds dkj.k ln~Hkkoh —"kd ugha FkkA

       vihy [kkfjt dhA ¼in la- 5 o 7½


       .

Honble RAFIQ, .J.—Heard learned counsel for the appellant.

(2). This appeal is directed against the judgment of the learned Single Judge dated 30/10/2007 whereby the writ petition of the appellant challenging the judgment of the Board of Revenue dated 11/10/2000, Revenue Appellate Authority dated 26/7/2000 and the Sub Divisional Officer dated 16/12/1999 was dismissed. All the aforementioned three Courts below concurrently decided against the appellant writ petitioner that allotment of land of Khasra No.686 measuring 22 bigha 10 biswa to him by the SDO vide his order dated 5/1/1972 was contrary to the provisions of Rajasthan Land Revenue (Allotment of Land for Agricultural Purposes) Rules, 1970 (in short, the "Rules of 1970") because land was situated within the area of Municipal Board and that petitioner being an employee of the Municipal Board Pushkar was not a bonafide agriculturist. The writ petition filed thereagainst by the appellant was dismissed by the learned Single Judge upholding the orders passed by the aforesaid three Courts.

(3). Learned counsel for the appellant has argued that the learned Courts below have misread and misinterpreted the provisions of Rules of 1970 inasmuch as, it has wrongly been held by the Courts below that the appellant was not a landless agriculturist and that the land was situated within the municipal limits. It was submitted that provisions of Rule 4(v)(d) of the Rules of 1970 which provides that lands situated in the municipal limits would not be available for allotment, have wrongly been applied because sub-clause (c) of clause (v) of Rule 4 of the Rules of 1970 provides that the lands within the limit of one mile from the boundary of the municipal town with the population of one lac and above but below two lacs would be available for allotment. It was argued that the Courts below have wrongly held the appellant to be a government servant because proviso (a) to Rule 2[(iii-B) which defines "landless agriculturist" excludes only an employee of the Government and appellant was employee of the Municipal Board and not a Government employee. Learned counsel further argued that the allotment in the present case was made in the year 1972 and it could not be cancelled at such belated stage as was done by the SDO vide its order dated 16/12/1999. Referring to Rule 14 of the Rules of 1970, learned counsel argued that once the khatedari rights are conferred on the allottee upon expiry of 10 years as per sub-rule (1) thereof, it could not be cancelled. Learned counsel in this connection relied on the judgment of Supreme Court in Brij Lal vs. Board of Revenue and others : AIR 1994 SC 1128 and this Court in Jas Raj vs. Board of Revenue & Ors. : RLR 1999(2) 687.

(4). We have given our thoughtful consideration to the submissions advanced by the parties and perused the impugned-orders and also the case law cited.

(5). The contention that an employee of the Municipal Board cannot be considered to be a government servant cannot be accepted because the definition of landless agriculturist as given in Rule 2[(iii-B) provides that landless agriculturist means a resident of Rajasthan who is either a bonafide agriculturist or an agricultural labourer, and is cultivating or is likely to cultivate land personally, and whose main source of livelihood is agriculture or any occupation which is subsidiary or subservient to agriculture. Proviso thereof provides that an employee of Government, or of a commercial or industrial establishment or concern, his wife and children dependant on him shall not be considered to be landless agriculturist. Besides the fact that appellant being an employee of the Municipal Board was not a bonafide agriculturist and was not cultivating or was not likely to cultivate the land personally and his main source of livelihood was not agriculture, clause (a) of the proviso, clarifies it further by saying that an employee of Government, or of a commercial or industrial establishment or concern, wou













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