157 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision : 04.12.2025 Kirpal Singh through his LRs and another ...... Petitioners Versus Financial Commissioner (Appeals), Punjab and others ...... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARSH BUNGER Present :- Mr. Vishal Aggarwal, Advocate for the petitioners.

Mr. Nirmaljit Singh Diwana, Senior DAG Punjab.

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HARSH BUNGER, J. (ORAL)

1. Prayer in the instant civil writ petition filed under Articles 226/227 of Constitution of India, inter alia, is for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari for setting aside order dated 17.12.2020 (Annexure P-6) and also the sanad takseem (instrument of partition) dated 22.04.2021 (Annexure P-7), issued by Assistant Collector 1^st Grade, Narot Jaimal Singh (in short 'Assistant Collector').

1.1 A further prayer has been made for setting aside order dated 28.08.2025 (Annexure P-9), passed by learned Financial Commissioner (Appeals), Punjab (in short 'Financial Commissioner').

2. Briefly, respondent No. 2 (Ganesh Raj) sought partition of joint land, comprised in three khewats i.e. khewat No. 4/3 (measuring 60 Kanal - 13 Marla); khewat No. 6/3 (measuring 209 Kanal -17 Marla) and khewat No. 5/3 (measuring 33 Kanal – 2 Marla) as per jamabandi for the year 2011-12), situated at village Udhipur Aima, Sub Tehsil Narot Jaimal Singh, Tehsil and District Pathankot, by filing three separate applications.

2.1 It appears that in the aforesaid three separate applications, a common mode of partition 03.01.2020 (Annexure P-5) came to be prepared and approved, the relevant extract of which reads as under :-

“1. The partition is qua the area 209 kanals 17 marlas, 60 kanals 13 marlas, and 33 kanals 2 marlas.

2. The partition will be carried out by maintaining the possession and keeping in mind the type of land as well as consolidation. In case of any deficiency the partition will be completed by breaking the possession.

3. The petitioner will be given a separate possession of its land. Similarly the respondent Saroj Devi, Hardev Singh, Vinod Singh, Leela Devi and Aarti Devi will be given separate combined possession.

4. The partition will be done by combining the three Khewats.

5. During the partition if any of the party is in possession of any land in Abadi/House/Shop which he has constructed, he will retain possession of the same.

6. Road and farm frontage will be given to each person in proportion to his holding.

7. The passage will be kept joint out of the joint land.”

2.2 Apparently, the petitioners did not challenge the aforesaid mode of partition and on that basis, Naksha 'Bey'; then Naksha 'Zeem' were prepared; final partition order dated 17.12.2020 was passed by the concerned Assistant Collector and thereafter, sanad takseem (instrument of partition) dated 22.04.2021 (Annexure P-7) was also issued.

2.3 The petitioners challenged the partition proceedings/orders by filing a revision petition (ROR-899-2021) before learned Financial Commissioner, which has been dismissed, vide order dated 28.08.2025 (Annexure P-9).

3. In the aforementioned circumstances, the petitioners have filed the instant civil writ petition before this Court seeking relief(s), as noticed hereinabove.

4. Learned counsel for petitioners submits that the revenue authorities below have erred in carrying out partition proceedings. It is submitted that respondent No. 2 (Ganesh Raj) was only a tenant in the joint land and was not owner of any land as per jamabandi for the year 2011-12 (Annexure P-2). It is further submitted that although as per jamabandi for the year 2016-17, respondent No. 2 (Ganesh Raj) is reflected to have purchased some land, however the partition application has been filed as per jamabandi for the year 2011-12. It is still further submitted that the land under partition is comprised in three separate khewats; however, the revenue authorities have wrongly clubbed three khewats. It is still further submitted that while carrying out the partition, the possession of