A claimant must prove individual cultivating possession prior to 1950 under exclusionary clause provisions for land ownership rights under relevant statutes.

JUDGMENT

Mr. Kuldeep Tiwari, J.

The petitioner, through the instant writ petition, has invoked the superintending jurisdiction of this Court, as envisaged under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, thereby, claiming the relief for setting aside of the order dated 14.01.2022 (Annexure P-12), where through, the respondent No.2 made an affirmative order upon the statutory appeal, as preferred at the instance of the Gram Panchayat concerned, against the order dated 28.02.2013 (Annexure P-9).

2. The further relief, as craved in the instant writ petition, relates to upholding of the order dated 28.02.2013 (Annexure P-9), for thereby declaring the petitioner as owner of the petition land, i.e. 30 Kanals 16 Marlas, comprised in Rect. No.8, Killa No.2 (8-0), 3 (8-0), 4 (7-8), 7 (7-8), situated at Village Sarai, District Gurdaspur.

3. The primary ground, as canvassed by the petitioner for procuring the relief(s) (supra), emerges from the exclusionary clause of "shamlat deh", as carried in Section 2 (g)(viii) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act of 1961'). By placing reliance upon the exclusionary clause (supra), the petitioner has expounded claim for his being declared the lawful owner of the petition land, as he and his predecessor-in-interest have purportedly been in individual cultivating possession of the petition land, but not in excess of their respective share(s), prior to 26.01.1950.

4. However, before adverting to evince any opinion on the merits of the present writ petition, it would be significant to first succinctly record hereinafter the factual backdrop of the present case.

Factual Backdrop

5. Initially, the Gram Panchayat concerned instituted a petition under Section 7 of the Act of 1961, before the learned Collector concerned, thereby, seeking eviction of the predecessor-in-interest of the petitioner from the disputed land. The Gram Panchayat concerned gained success in its endeavour for eviction of the predecessor-in-interest of the petitioner and thereafter, the eviction orders attained finality up to this Court, as the concurrently made eviction orders were assailed before this Court, through institution of CWP-459-1986. When the petitioners, in the writ petition (supra), were faced with its dismissal, resultantly leave was asked from this Court for withdrawal of the writ petition (supra). Accordingly, after affirming the orders impugned in the writ petition (supra), it was ordered to be dismissed as withdrawn, vide order dated 29.02.2012, however, liberty was reserved to the petitioners therein to avail the remedy under Section 11 of the Act of 1961, for adjudication of any question of title, which may arise there. The relevant extract of the order dated 29.02.2012 is reproduced as under:-

"After addressing arguments for some time and when faced with the dismissal of the writ petitions, counsel for the petitioners states that as a credible question of title arises, the writ petitions may be dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to the petitioners to file a petition, under Section 11 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') for adjudication of the question of title.

In view of the statement made by counsel for the petitioners, the impugned orders are affirmed, the writ petitions are dismissed as withdrawn with l