Judgment

Mr. Kuldeep Tiwari, J.

As common questions of law and facts arise in both these writ petitions, therefore, they are being decided and disposed of by this common judgment. For brevity, the facts are being extracted from CWP-25676-2019.

2. Initially, the writ petition, CWP-25676-2019, was filed by total nine petitioners, however, petitioner Nos. 4, 6, and, 8 chose to withdraw the petition, and, consequently, the writ petition qua these petitioners was ordered to be dismissed as withdrawn, vide order dated 30.09.2019. Therefore, this writ petition survives only qua petitioner Nos.1 to 3, 5, 7 and 9.

FACTUAL MATRIX

3. In pursuance of Rule 13-A of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Rules of 1964’ for short), the Government of Punjab formulated a policy dated 17.04.2001, thereby empowering Gram Panchayats to, with the prior approval of the State Government, allot plots to landless/houseless workers, from shamlat deh land, vesting in the Gram Panchayat concerned, for construction of houses thereon by such persons. To carry out the above exercise of allotment of plots, the policy (supra) enunciates the calling of a meeting by the Gram Panchayat concerned, to identify the eligible persons for allotment of free plots, and, thereupon pass a resolution in this regard. The resolution so passed by the Gram Panchayat concerned, containing the details of beneficiaries for allotment of plots, is then required to be placed before the Block Development and Panchayat Officer concerned, who shall after verifying all the documents, forward the case to the District Development and Panchayat Officer concerned. The District Development and Panchayat Officer shall further forward the case, along with its recommendation, before the Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned, for taking a final decision thereon, as the policy (supra) authorizes the Deputy Commissioner to accord approval on behalf of the State Government. The eligibility criteria, as prescribed in the policy (supra) is extracted hereunder:-

“1. Which person shall be entitled under this scheme.

(i) The beneficiary taking benefit under this scheme should be resident of the considered Gram Sabha Area.

(ii) Beneficiary who is given plot under this scheme, he should not have his own house or place for constructing house.

(iii) The person taking benefit under this scheme should be married.

(iv) The beneficiary should be belonging to houseless, Scheduled Caste, Rai Sikh or Christian community.”

It is apt to record here that the policy (supra) was partially amended on 29.05.2001, and thereafter, it was again amended on 23.12.2011, whereby person(s) belonging to Backward Class category were also brought within the domain of eligibility criteria for allotment of free plots.

4. In pursuance of the policy (supra), the respondent No.6, i.e. Gram Panchayat of Village Dughaat, Tehsil and District Patiala, had passed a Resolution dated 25.11.2013, for allotment of 5 marla plots to the landless/homeless persons(s) of the Village, who fulfilled the requisite eligibility criteria, as laid down in the policy (supra). Initially, the respondent No.6 had passed a Resolution in favour of total 74 beneficiaries, which was forwarded by the respondent No.5, i.e. B.D.P.O., Patiala, to the respondent No.4, i.e. D.D.P.O., Patiala, vide letter No.4565/S.E.P.O. dated 01.07.2016. The respondent No.4 had forwarded the proposal for allotment of such plots to the respondent No.3, i.e. Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Patiala, who constituted a Committee for verification of eligibility of the beneficiari