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2021 Supreme(HP) 690

IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA
SANDEEP SHARMA, J.
Sanjay Kumar - Appellant
Versus
State of Himachal Pradesh and Ors. - Respondent
Civil Writ Petition No. 2060 of 2020
Decided On : 24-09-2021

Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant :Ravinder Singh Chandel, Advocate
For the Respondent:Sudhir Bhatnagar, Additional Advocate General, Kamal Kishore and Narinder Thakur, Deputy Advocates General

Headnote:

HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act 1972 - Himachal Pradesh Village Common Land (Vesting and Utilization) Scheme, 1975 - Himachal Pradesh Utilization of Surplus Areas Scheme, 1974 - Construction of residential house shall be eligible for allotment - Biswas of land - allottee or his/her legal heir - Land is to be allotted out of the surplus land available in the districts under various schemes as such, Himachal Pradesh Utilization of Surplus Areas Scheme Himachal Pradesh Village Common Land (Vesting and Utilization) Scheme Special Scheme for grant of Nautor land to landless person, 1975 and H.P. Nautor Rules, 1968 - Land available in the Government pool is to be allotted onyx by the Deputy Commissioners under the Scheme – Held, There is yet another aspect of the matter that the language couched in Clause 4 is that, "However, the person who will inherit less than 3/2 biswa of land.." meaning thereby that future probability of inheriting land less than 3 or 2 Biswa as the case may be, has been taken into consideration for considering eligibility of a person, meaning further that before demise of father, a son is eligible for allotment of land, if it is established that later on also, he would inherit less than 3/2 Biswa of land, as such, aforesaid condition nowhere bars a person to be allotted land - case his father is alive, subject to the future inheritance of land less than 3/2 Biswa, as is the case here - Rejection of the case of petitioner on the ground that his father is alive, is against the policy/clarification, which has been misinterpreted by the respondents - petition is allowed.

ORDER :

SANDEEP SHARMA, J.

1. Vide communication dated 22.1.2014, Government of Himachal Pradesh, Department of Revenue, formulated policy for allotment of 3/2 Biswa of land in rural/urban areas to houseless persons/families, which reads as under:

    "In supersession of this Department letter No. Rev.B.F(1)1/2006 dated 28th February, 2007, 05-10-2007 and 01-11-2010 on the subject cited above, I am directed to say that on reconsideration of the matter, by the Government, it has been decided to allot 3/2 biswa of land in rural/urban areas in the form of following clarifications:-

i. The land is to be allotted out of the surplus land available in the districts under various schemes as such, Himachal Pradesh Utilization of Surplus Areas Scheme, 1974, Himachal Pradesh Village Common Land (Vesting and Utilization) Scheme, 1975, Special Scheme for grant of Nautor land to landless person, 1975 and H.P. Nautor Rules, 1968.

ii. The land available in the Government pool is to be allotted onyx by the Deputy Commissioners under the Scheme.

iii. In urban areas not much land is available with the Government in any of the schemes mentioned above therefore, the land may have to be acquired for the purpose regarding which action may be taken depending on the number of eligible families in the urban areas.

iv. All such families whose income is Rs. 50,000/- per annum or less and who are houseless or those families whose entire land has been washed away in floods and have no suitable land for construction of residential house shall be eligible for allotment of 3 Biswas of land in rural areas and 2 Biswas of land in Urban areas, even if such families are not included in the BPL list issued by the Rural Development Department.

v. The land allotted under these instructions shall be mutated in the name of both husband and wife and such land or house built on allotted land shall not be transferred by the allottee or his/her legal heir(s), in any manners,. In case the land so allotted or the house built thereon is transferred by the allottee or his/her legal heir(s), the allotment so made shall stand cancelled and the land alongwith house if any, shall vest in the State Government free from all encumbrances.

vi. The provision/requirement of Town and Country Planning would govern such allotments.

In addition to above, it has further been decided that following persons will not be entitled for allotment of land under aforesaid instructions:

1. Who have been allotted land under the various allotment schemes/rules of the Government and have transferred/sold the land.

2. who have been conferred with the proprietary rights under HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act 1972 and have been allotted the land under the scheme for allotment under Ceiling Act and have transferred/sold the land.

3. Who have been allotted the land under any scheme of the Government for landless and have transferred/sold the land.

4. whose father is alive. However, the person who will inherit less than 3/2 biswa of land in Rural/Urban area shall also be eligible for allotment so that his/her total holding is made upto 3/2 biswas.

With above instructions it is accepted that there remains no ambiguity in the scheme and all the Deputy Commissioners will take initiative to fulfill the Government announcement in letter and spirit without any further loss of time. Monthly progress report may be sent by 7th of following month.

The Deputy Commissioners are requested to monitor the allotments of monthly basis and inform the Government."

2. Pursuant to aforesaid policy/clarification, petitioner claiming himself to be unemployed and landless person, made an application dated 16.12.2014, (Annexure P-2) to District Collector, Kangra at Dharamshala praying therein for allotment of 3/2 Biswa of land comprised in Khasra No. 2260/294/1 situate at Mohal Gabli Dar. Pursuant to directions issued by the office of District Collector, Kangra, Gram Panchayat concerned as well as Additional Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Dharamsha

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