Gram Panchayat Bajra vs Union of India

I.S. Tiwana, J (Oral)

In this petition the sole grouse made by the petitionerPanchayat is that the Rehabilitation Authorities should not deal with the share of the evacuees in the Shamlat land and the same be not allotted in favour of the person who migrated to this country from Pakistan or any other person. In a nutshell, the case of the petitioner is that whatever share the evacuees had in the Shamlat land, the same has vested in the petitionerPanchayat under the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1954, as amended in 1961.

It is conceded position here that a Division Bench judgment of this Court in C.W.P. No. 2657 of 1970, Malvinder Singh v. Union of India, has settled the question with regard to the vesting of the shares of the evacuees in Shamlat lands. As per this judgment, the share of the evacuees does not vest in the Panchayat under the provisions of the abovenoted Act and that land continue to be evacuee land with which the Rehabilitation Authorities are competent to deal with.

In the light of the above legal position, I see no merit in this petition and dismiss the same but with no order as to costs.