Illegal possession of state land does not confer rights without valid allotment; civil decree restraining dispossession does not validate revenue mutation or establish title, which vests in State.

JUDGMENT :

WASIM SADIQ NARGAL, J.

01. The petitioners through the medium of instant petition sought the following relief: Writ in the nature of Certiorari quashing the order dated 06.03.2026 passed by the respondent No.2 in revision petition bearing File No. RD0050000010248, by virtue of which, the revision petition filed by the petitioners has been dismissed.

02. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioners have been in possession of a piece of land measuring 23 kanals and 07 marlas, comprising Khasra No. 36, situated at Village Najla Chak, Tehsil Akhnoor, District Jammu, for more than three decades and they have constructed residential houses on a portion of the said land and are residing there along with their families, while the remaining land is under their cultivating possession. On the basis of such continuous physical possession, the mutation of Sehat Kasht was attested by the Tehsildar, Akhnoor, vide Mutation No. 40 dated 30.10.2007, after following due process of law and in the presence of a large number of elderly members of the locality.

03. It is the specific case of the petitioners that one Bansi Lal, an influential and politically backed person for several years, made repeated attempts to forcibly grab the land of the petitioners by misusing his political influence and by hatching a conspiracy in connivance with certain strong-arm elements of the village, despite the fact that neither he nor the other villagers had any locus standi, right, or interest in the land in question. In the month of March, 2011, Bansi Lal, along with six other persons, started interfering with the land in question and attempted to forcibly dispossess the petitioners therefrom. Aggrieved by the said illegal and mala fide acts of Bansi Lal and others, the petitioners filed a civil suit before the Court of learned Munsiff, Akhnoor, wherein Bansi Lal and six other villagers were arrayed as defendants. Thereafter the learned Munsiff Akhnoor vide judgment and decree dated 11.09.2014 decreed the suit in favour of the petitioners and permanently restrained the defendants in the suit from forcibly dispossessing the plaintiffs from the suit land in question.

04. It is the specific case of the petitioners that, during the pendency of the suit before the Court of learned Munsiff, Akhnoor, one Bansi Lal, on 15.04.2014, in a representative capacity, filed an appeal before the Director, Survey and Land Records, Ex-Officio Settlement Officer/Collector, Jammu (referred to as the Court below), challenging Sehat Kasht Mutation No. 40 dated 30.10.2007, inter alia, on the ground that the same had been attested in respect of land recorded as “Khad”, over which all inhabitants of the village allegedly have an interest, as it is being used for grazing purposes, and that a portion of the land measuring approximately 6 to 7 kanals comprises a Dev Asthan (temple) of Sh. Guru Ravi Dass Ji Maharaj. The said Director, survey and Land Records vide order dated 13.06.2015, allowed the said appeal, set aside the impugned mutation, and directed the Tehsildar to evict the alleged encroachers from the temple land as well as the grazing land belonging to the State forthwith, with the assistance of the local police.

05. Aggrieved by the aforesaid order dated 13.06.2015, the petitioners preferred a revision petition before the Court of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, inter alia, on the ground that the Court below failed to appreciate and consider the available revenue record. During the pendency of the said revision petition, Bansi Lal expired and no representative of the inhabitants came forward to seek impleadment. Consequently, the petitioners moved an application before the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu