The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for proper demarcation, proof of encroachments, and lawful procedure for removal of encroachments, and the responsibility of the appellant to distinguish between valid orders of a statutory authority and orders given in a non-statutory capacity.

AMOL RATTAN SINGH, J.

1. The present letters patent appeal challenges the judgment of the learned Single Judge, dated 20.11.2012, passed in CWP No. 10525 of 2000, whereby the appellant, a Punjab Civil Services Officer and former Sub Divisional Magistrate of Ajnala, along with the then Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, have been burdened with compensation of Rs. 4,00,000/- (with Rs. 1,00,000/- to be paid to each of the petitioners of CWP No. 10525 of 2000, i.e. the present respondents No. 1 to 4).

2. The facts leading to the filing of the writ petition and the consequent judgment are as follows:-

CWP No. 10525 of 2000 was filed by four petitioners, residents of Abadi Ram Tirath, Village Kotla Doom, Tehsil Ajnala, District Amritsar, seeking action against the present appellant (respondent No. 3 in the writ petition), for allegedly committing offences punishable under Sections 452, 247 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, by causing demolition of their residential houses.

The history of the litigation, briefly, is that, at a historical place known as Ram Tirath, located at a distance of 11 kms from Amritsar, the ancestors of the petitioners are stated to have come and settled in 1545 A.D. and became the Mohtamims (managers and care takers) of the temple constructed. They are stated to have dug out the holy pond there and also constructed houses, in khasra No. 79, for their own shelter. With the passage of time, other persons are also stated to have constructed their houses in the said area. As per the petitioners, the houses had been described as Abadi Deh in the record for the year 1994-95.

3. The allegation of the writ petitioners was that the present appellant demanded money from the collections made, in a fair held in the year 1999. When the writ petitioners (present respondents No. 1 to 4) declined to accede to his demand, he brought a police force on 19.02.2000, along with bulldozers and demolished all the residential houses in the said khasra No. 79, on the ground that they were encroachers. Upon this, a panchayat resolution condemning the action, was passed. Thereafter, a deputation met the Chief Minister also, with their complaint. The appellant is stated to have been, then, suspended and Rs. 50,000/- was granted to each petitioner as interim relief, for raising temporary structures to house their families.

4. The grievance of the said respondents was, that other than suspension of the present appellant, no action had been taken, despite the fact that he had committed the offences referred to hereinabove, by breaking into their houses, intimidating them and demolishing their houses.

5. On 23.07.2002, a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court, hearing the writ petition, passed the following order:-

"After hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusing the affidavits of respondent no. 3 and Sh. Inderjit Singh, we are convinced that it would be appropriate to get a detailed inquiry conducted into the circumstances in which the properties of the petitioners had been demolished. Such enquiry would also enable the Court to find out whether the demolition was carried out under the orders of Sh. Narinderjit Singh or by Sh. J.P. Singh the then SDM Ajnala on his own.

The learned District Judge, Amritsar is requested to nominate one of the Additional District Judges for holding enquiry into the aforesaid issues.

The parties are directed to appear before the District Judge, Amritsar on 19.08.2002.

The District Judge shall inform the parties about the officer nominated by him. Thereafter, the parties shall appear before the concerned officer and produce oral as well as documentary evidence in support of their respective cases.

The report on the basis of enquiry conducted by the designated Additional District Judge be sent to this court at the end of 3 months.

Put up on 22.11.2002."

6. Consequently, the enquiry was conducted by the Additional District Judge, Amritsar, who submitted his report on 18.10.2002, but the demarcation report sai