HEADNOTE:

The appellant--Panchayat owned 1200 Bighas of land in Village Kanonda Distt. Rohtak in Haryana. A Scheme of con- solidation of Holdings under Section 20 of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act 1948 was confirmed on 15.1.1974, as a result whereof the Panchayat’s land was consolidated, repartitioned and allot- ted to persons, allegedly having no right to hold the same with the result, the Panchayat was reduced as a landless person, and financially weak. The Panchayat, therefore, on 20.9.1977 moved an application under section 42 of the Act objecting to the utilization of the Land of the value of -/2/- (Two annas) and the allotments made to other right holders.

After hearing the parties, the Director of Consolidation of Holdings by his order dated 8.2.79 set aside the scheme and remanded the case to the consolidation officer with some directions. The Director took the view that even though the application had been made much beyond the period of limita- tion of six months contemplated under Rule 18, yet in view of the fact that the Panchayat had no other land to culti- vate due to which the Panchayat was unable to develop the agricultural