Punjab Land Reforms Act, 1972 – s.21 – Jurisdiction of Civil Courts, if barred – Appellants filed suit for declaration and perpetual injunction, asserting that the land in question was exempt under the Act – They sought declaration that the land belonged to the religious and charitable shrine Dam Dama Sahib of Una and an injunction to prevent the respondents from transferring or declaring it surplus – Trial Court dismissed the suit – First Appellate Court partly allowed appeal – High Court set aside the judgment of First Appellate court, holding that the Civil Court’s jurisdiction was barred u/s.21 of the Act – Correctness of:
Held: The issue of jurisdiction was not pressed by the respondents during the Trial Court proceedings – The Trial Court specifically recorded that the issue of jurisdiction was not pressed and decided it in favour of the plaintiffs – The respondents did not challenge this finding before the first appellate Court, and, hence precluded from raising it in the second appeal before the High Court – s.21 of the Land Reforms Act bars the jurisdiction of Civil Courts only in specific circumstances – (a) suits for specific performance of a contract for transfer of land, and – (b) questioning the validity of any proceeding or order taken or made under the Act – The present suit does not fall under either of these two categories – The appellants’ suit was essentially for a declaration that the land belonged to the religious and charitable shrine Dam Dama Sahib, and there was no challenge to the validity of any order under the Act – The Civil Court alone has the jurisdiction to decide and declare whether the land belonged to the religious shrine or to Tikka Devinder Singh in his personal capacity – The suit filed by the appellants was not a challenge to the validity of the surplus order but a suit for declaration regarding the ownership of the land – Matter remitted back to High Court for fresh consideration on merits. [Paras 5, 7, 8]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Bibhuti Bhushan Bose (With assistance from : Geethika. K, LCRA). Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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