Willful disobedience of a status quo order is not established if the respondent had already obtained possession prior to the order and the subsequent actions merely continue the existing state of affairs.

NIDHI GUPTA J. (Oral)

The present contempt petition has been filed alleging willful disobedience of the interim order dated 01.04.2024 (Annexure P-1), passed by a Division Bench of this Court in CWP-7156-2024 titled “Mohinder vs. State of Haryana and others”, whereby the parties were directed to maintain status quo with regard to the property in dispute.

Mr. Sandeep Parkash Chahar, Advocate has put in appearance and filed Power of Attorney on behalf of respondent No.3.

The same is taken on record.

At the outset, learned counsel for the respondents has invited the attention of this Court to the averments contained in paragraph 4 of the short reply dated 06.01.2026/31.12.2025, filed by way of affidavit of Shri Manish Malik, Assistant Collector 1st Grade, Sonipat-cum-District Development and Panchayat Officer, Sonipat (respondent No.2), on behalf of respondents No.1 and 2, which reads as follows :-

“4. That the present contempt petition is liable to be dismissed as in compliance of the ejectment orders, the possession of the suit land was delivered to the Gram Panchayat on 21.08.2023 as per rules. And further, the Gram Panchayat leased out the land to one Sh. Chand Singh S/o Surjeet in Rs. 20,000/- per acre in open auction which was held on 29-08-2023 for one crop i.e. upto April, 2024, meaning thereby that the land in question was under lease till 01-05-2024. It is further submitted that from 01-05-2024 to 12-11-2024 the land in question was under the possession of Gram Panchayat Jajal and the same was not leased out due to insufficient irrigation facility. However thereafter the suit land was further leased out to Sh. Chand in open auction upto April, 2025 in rupees 22,500/- and at present the suit land is under lease with the above mentioned Sh. Chand. The copy of the Rapat Rojnamcha dated 21-08- 2023 is annexed as Annexure R-1 and the copy of lease register dated 29-08-2023 and the copy of lease register dated 12-11-2024 are annexed as Annexure R-2 for kind perusal of this Hon'ble High Court. Since, the suit land is owned and possessed by Gram Panchayat and the suit land was leased out by the Gram Panchayat in open auction continuously to generate fund, hence gram panchayat is maintaining statusquo, qua the land in question hence petition of the petitioner is liable to be dismissed.”

Learned counsel for the respondents submits that in compliance with the ejectment orders, possession of the land in question had already been delivered to the Gram Panchayat on 21.08.2023, much prior to the passing of the interim order dated 01.04.2024. It is further averred that thereafter the Gram Panchayat leased out the land through open auction for cultivation purposes from time to time, including the period prior to and subsequent to the interim order. It has been specifically pointed out that the land remained under lease up to April 2024 and thereafter remained in the possession of the Gram Panchayat for a certain period, before being again leased out through open auction. The relevant record, including the Rapat Roznamcha dated 21.08.2023 and entries from the lease register, has been appended with the reply as Annexures R-1 and R-2.

On the strength of the aforesaid factual position, learned counsel for the respondents submits that the petitioner was merely an encroacher over the land in dispute and had already been dispossessed prior to the passing of the status quo order. It is thus contended that the nature and possession of the property remained unchanged after 01.04.2024 and, therefore, there is no violation, much less willful disobedience, of the order passed by this Court.

Having heard learned counsel for the parties and upon perusal of the material available on record, this Court finds substance in the submissions advanced on behalf of the respondents. The record indicates that possession had already been taken over by the Gram Panchayat on 21.08.2023, i.e. well before the interim order dated 01