Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964 – Regularization of the illegal occupation – Petitioners, who are the residents of Village, encroached upon the panchayat land and constructed the houses – The Government of Haryana framed a policy regarding sale of panchayat land in unauthorised possession – The r.12(4) was incorporated in the 1964 Rules in terms of the notification dated 03.01.2008, which authorises Gram Panchayat to sell its non-cultivable land to the inhabitants of the village who have constructed their houses on or before 31.03.2000, subject to fulfilment of the conditions mentioned in r.12(4) of the 1964 Rules – As per r.12(4) of the 1964 Rules, the construction of the house on the panchayat land must have been put on or before 31.03.2000 – It must be a non-cultivable land; does not result in any obstruction to the traffic and passer-by and the illegal occupation/constructed area shall be up to a maximum of 200 square yards and then only the same can be regularised/sold – The petitioners submitted the application before the competent authority and requested to sell the lands occupied by them illegally and unauthorizedly, in exercise of powers u/r. 12(4) – Their application was rejected as they were in illegal occupation of the area admeasuring more than 200 square yards – Writ petition filed by the petitioners was dismissed – On appeal, held: On a careful reading of r.12(4) of the 1964 Rules, it is apparent that the illegal occupation of the panchayat land can be regularised provided the area of the illegal occupation is up to a maximum of 200 square yards – The competent authority as well as the High Court both are justified in taking the view that as the respective petitioners were in illegal occupation – The persons in illegal occupation of the Government Land/Panchayat Land cannot, as a matter of right, claim regularization – Regularization of the illegal occupation of the Government Land/Panchayat Land can only be as per the policy of the State Government and the conditions stipulated in the Rules – If it is found that the conditions stipulated for regularisation have not been fulfilled, such persons in illegal occupation of the Government Land/Panchayat Land are not entitled to regularization.
Jagpal Singh v. State of Punjab, (2011) 11 SCC 396 : [2011] 2 SCR 250; State of Odisha v. Bichitrananda Das, (2020) 12 SCC 649 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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