The central legal point established in the judgment is that the choice of the District Collector in the appointment of 'Lambardar' should not be lightly set aside.

G.S. SANDHAWALIA, J.

1. The present appeal seeks consideration of the order of the learned Single Judge in CWP-16717-2022, who has upheld the order of the Financial Commissioner, dated 19.05.2022 (Annexure P-3) while dismissing the writ petition filed by the petitioner, on 13.01.2023.

2. The brief facts of the case are that the District Collector, Barnala, vide his order dated 09.11.2017 (Annexure P-1) appointed Rajpal Singh (respondent No. 4 herein) as a 'Lambardar' of Village Rureke Khurd, Tehsil and District Barnala. However, the Divisional Commissioner, vide his order dated 15.07.2021 (Annexure P-2) set aside the order passed by the District Collector and appointed the present appellant as 'Lambardar' of the village. Thereafter, the Financial Commissioner, vide his order dated 19.05.2022 (Annexure P-3) set aside the order of the Divisional Commissioner and restored the order passed by the District Collector.

3. In sum and substance, the learned Single Judge came to the conclusion that it was a settled principle of law that the choice of the District Collector cannot be lightly set aside and therefore, upheld the order of the Financial Commissioner, dated 19.05.2022 (Annexure P-3).

4. The apparent reasons as such for the Commissioner to exercise his power is apparently on reassessing the suitability of the candidate inter se and coming to the conclusion that the present appellant was a better candidate on account of his sports background. The Divisional Commissioner would also aware of the his limited jurisdiction but inspite of that passed the order and accepted the appeal. The relevant portion of the order dated 15.07.2021 (Annexure P-2) reads as under:-

“7.After perusing all the facts of the case, I am of the opinion that the appellant Sukhpal Singh is a better candidate for the post of lambdardar. He is having a good influence in the village as he is a player of Basket Ball and obtained first rank in the district level. He also got second position in district level in Sr. Sec. School Tournaments in Basket Ball. Being a player, he is a role model for the youth and can motivate them to form a curve towards games which is badly needed in today's scenario. I do not find any extra merit in another appellant Jaswinder Singh and respondent Rajpal Singh. I assess the suitability of the appellant Sukhpal Singh.

8. Under the normal circumstances, the choice of District Collector in the matter of appointment of village lambardars is not to be interfered but here, there is a case for intervention as the Collector has over looked some facts of the case. Keeping in view the above discussed facts of the matter, the appeal filed by Jaswinder Singh is dismissed. However, the appeal filed by Sukhpal Singh is hereby accepted and he is ordered to be appointed as lambardar of Village Rurcke Khurd, Tehsil and District Barnala.”

5. The reasoning which is given above, apparently allegedly did not find favour of the Financial Commissioner, who rightly set aside the said order by placing reliance on the judgment of a co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Balram vs. Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Haryana (Punjab and Haryana), while coming to the conclusion that the appointment as such lies within the domain and jurisdiction of the District Collector.

6. Learned counsel for the appellant has tried to impress and stress upon the fact that there is an encroachment report as such against the said respondent and he was an unauthorised occupation and therefore, he was not liable to be made the 'Lambardar'.

7. Learned Single Judge examined this aspect also and noticed that on the demarcation report, there is no signatures of the appointed candidate namely Rajpal Singh and nothing was shown that any notice was issued to Rajpal Singh before conducting the alleged demarcation. It was also noticed that the document could not be said to be a demarcation report as neither any reference has been made to any revenue map/village map/field map, nor any 'pucca' point has b