Disposal of surplus rural evacuee agricultural lands

Punjab Government Department of Rehabilitation

To

1.All Tehsildars(Sales) in the State.

2.Naib Tehsildars (Sales), Sangrur and Patiala.

No.2 (505) G-5/7213-23/Reh

Dated Jalandhar 4^th April 1973.

Sub: Disposal of surplus rural evacuee agricultural lands.

Memorandum:

Continuation this Department Memo No. 2(505)S/1981-91/G-5, dated 2^nd September, 1972 on the above subject.

2. Te High Court has lifted the embargo imposed on the sale of surplus rural evacuee lands. Accordingly, the sales of these lands are to be resumed forthwith. As explained in the departmental meeting held on 15/3/1973, the entire evacuee land in the State is to be disposed of within a period of 10 months positively. In order to complete the work within the prescribed period, you should assess the availability of surplus rural evacuee lands in your unit immediately and then draw up a tentative programme for the disposal of the land during the said period. Three copies of the tour programmes should be sent to this department immediately.

3. The following instructions are hereby issued in clarification or amplification of the conditions etc. laid in this department memo No. 21761, dated 12/10/1971 and the Press Notes (1) and (2) dated 6/10/71 circulated with this department memo No. 21202, dated 7/10/71.

1. Transfer of land to occupants:

(i)The lands occupied by members of the scheduled castes and rai Sikhs from Rabi 1970 or earlier shall be transferred to them on prescribed rates subject to a ceiling of 5 standard acres or 10 ordinary acres each inclusive of a transferee’s own holding, if any (Clause-I of Press Note No. 1).

(ii)An ‘Eligible Occupant’ shall be a person:

(a)who is a member of a scheduled caste or is a Rai Sikh

(b)who has applied for the transfer of the land occupied by him on or before December 15,1971 and his application reached the office of the Tehsildar (Sales) or Naib Tehsildar (Sales) by the said date and not after it, by post or otherwise;

(c)Who is head of his family

(d)Who is in cultivating possession of the land claimed by him from Rabi 1970 and his cultivating possession is established to be continuous from the said crop, as per entries in the Khasra Girdawaris. If any male occupant is not cultivating the land himself and is getting it cultivated through other person, even if he may be his employee, shall not be eligible for the transfer of the land in his possession.

(e)Who is a legal heir(s) of an occupant who has died after Rabi 1970 and made an application by December 15, 1971.

(iii)No minor shall be eligible for the transfer of the land.

(iv)A lady occupant, whose husband is alive, shall not be eligible for the transfer of the land.

Note: The cases of widow occupants who are getting the land in their possession cultivated through their sons or servants etc. or the lady occupant whose husband are disabled or incapacitated shall not be rejected by the Tehsildar (Sales)/Naib Tehsildar (Sales) but forwarded to Government for orders, through the Settlement Officer concerned, who shall make his recommendations after carefully scrutinising each case and satisfying himself of the correct position and circumstances.

(v)“Cultivating possession” shall be determined strictly on the basis of the entries in the Khasra Girdawari. The cases of doubtful, tampered with and corrected entries shall ordinarily be ignored. Where, however, it is considered that tampering with of an entry has been done to jeopardise the interest of an otherwise eligible occupant, the Tehsildar (Sales) / Naib Tehsildar (Sales) may refer the case to the Settlement Officer concerned, who may obtain orders from Government, after holding such enquiry as deemed necessary. Similarly, cases of genuine corrections may also be referred to the Settlement Officer concerned for orders of the Government.

(vi)A “head of the family” should be living separately from his parents, may be in one and the same house, and should be paying Chuhla Tax and Chowkidara.

(vii)An occupant’s “own holding” shall include the land owned by him, his wife and his dependent wife’s or his dependent children’s share n the holding of his living father or relation to which any one of them may be entitled to succeed, after the death of the former, as his/her legal heir or reversioner.

(a)Nazool or inferior evacuee agricultural land purchased from the Revenue Department or from any other source on instalment basis, by an occupant or surplus evacuee land shall form part of his holding, even if it has not been fully paid for.

(b)In the case of (ii) (e) above, the legal heir’s or heirs’ “holding” shall have the same meaning as that of occupant’s holding. This holding shall be taken into account while determining his/their eligibility for the transfer of surplus evacuee land on the basis of possession of his/their deceased father or ancestor, provided that in the event of plurality of heirs of a deceased occupant, no individual heir shall be entitled to the transfer of surplus evacuee land exceeding his proportionate share in the land occupied by the deceased occupant.

(c)A part or whole of the holding, if transferred byan occupant, to anyone in any manner, on or after October 5, 1971 shall be deemed to be a part or whole, of his holding. But it shall not include the part or whole of his holding which he may have to part with in pursuance of a decree of Civil Court, passed against him in a presumption suit for title to land etc. between October 5, 1971 and the date on which his application is disposed of by a Tehsildar (Sales) or a Naib Tehsildar (Sales).

(viii)A Scheduled Caste occupant shall be liable to pay the price of the land @ Rs. 500/- per standard acre while a Rai Sikh occupant shall be liable to pay the price @ Rs.1000/- per standard acre in 5 annual equated instalments with interest at 7% per annum;the first instalment of one fifth of the price payable at the time of transfer.

(ix)The occupants shall also be liable to make payment in lumpsum of arrears on account f rent/lease money of the land under their unauthorised occupation, alongwith the first instalment payable at the time of transfer. This will, however, not include recovery of ‘other dues’ including ‘Taccavis”.

Note: These arrears shall be paid to the Tehsildar (Mahal) concerned and a clearance certificate produced by an applicant at the time of the processing of his application by the Tehsildar (Sales) or Naib Tehsildar (Sales).

(x)In the event of default on the part of a transferee, in the payment of any instalment/balance money in time, the land transferred to him will be resumed and the amount paid by him forfeited.

(xi)All applications received in a sale unit, shall be entered date wise daily in a separate register. The official concerned will give on the top of each application, its receipt number and the date on which received, which shall be initialled by the Tehsildar (Sales) or Naib Tehsildar (Sales). At the end of each working day or on the morning of the next working day the applications duly receipted, will be sorted out Tehsil wise and passed on to the Kanungo (Sales) concerned, on receipt of which he will make a preliminary scrutiny so as to determine;

(a)whether or not an application is a member of the Scheduled Castes or a ‘Rai Sikh’ and

(b)whether or not all documents, as prescribed in para 2 of Press Note No. (2) have been appended.

The applications received from non eligible persons shall be kept in a separate folder and entered in a register, while the applications received from the eligible categories shall be sorted out, village wise and entered in a register to be maintained in order of Had Bast number of the village, by the Kanungo (Sales) concerned. While making entries in the village wise register, the receipt number of the application should also be mentioned, in the column immediately following column No. 1(Serial No.). In the remarks column the Capital letters H & R should be entered in red pencil to denote that the application is a Harijan (Scheduled Caste) or Rai Sikh.

An incomplete application shall be marked as such with red pencil and a Robkar issued to the applicant by the Kanungo (Sales) concerned, asking him to complete the same within a week. After the omissions have been supplied, the word incomplete should be struck off. In the event of the failure of an applicant to complete his application, in response to the above (Robkar he should be directed to supply the missing documents or details at the time of the processing of his application by the Tehsildar (Sales) or the Naib Tehsildar (Sales).

 

All applications received by December 15, 1971 shall be entered in the main register. The Tehsildar (Sales) / Naib Tehsildar (Sales) shall record a certificate indicating the total number of applications received by that date.

(xii)These applications shall be processed and disposed of by the Tehsildar (Sales) / or the Naib Tehsildar (Sales) in the villages, in which the lands claimed are situate. If the number of applications pertaining to a village is small, then it will be permissible to dispose of the same in a centrally located village in the area, where the Patwaris of the villages with the original revenue records, Sarpanches and Lambardars of the villages, and member of Gram Panchayats, preferably Harijan members, if any, should be present. After verification of the facts stated by an applicant and and comparison of the Khasra Girdawari tendered by the latter with the original “Girdawaris” the Tehsildar (Sales) or the Naib Tehsildar (Sales) if satisfied of his eligibility, will record a briefformal order, allowing the transfer of the land to the extent admissible. The officer passing the order should invariably certify;

(a)That he has compared the copy of the Khasra Girdawari tendered by an applicant or placed on the file, with the original one and has found incorrect or otherwise;

(b)That the application and his dependents own ______ standard acres of land in village _____ Tehsil ______ District _____ and is, therefore, entitled to the transfer of only ____ standard acres of land; and

(c)That the applicant is a member of a Schedule Cate/ Rai Sikh and is head of his family.

(xiii)Each file shall then be submitted to the Settlement Officer concerned for checking and approval of the transfer, after the expiry of fifteen days.

II. Sale of land in restricted auctions:

(i)Land under unauthorised occupation, which is not transferable on the basis of possession, as also the Banjar and Ghair Mumkin lands excluding the lands.

(a) required for allotment to unsatisfied claimants;

(a)already reserved for allotment to disabled soldiers, widows, parents, children etc. of the soldiers killed in Chinese and Pakistan aggressions.

(b)Required for public purposes and

(c)Falling under the excepted categories (Save smaller bits of land upto 2 acres) which shall be disposed of by auctionsrestricted to the members of Scheduled Castes.

(ii)Only head of a family shall be eligible to purchase evacuee land upto 5 standard acres including his own holding, if any.

(iii)These auctions shall be held under the Rules framed by the State Government from time to time. Programme for auction should be drawn well in advance and wide publicity given to it. Copies of tour programme shall be sent to all the M.L.As. in the State.

(iv)The restricted auctions shall be held on the terms and conditions laid down at No. II (i) of Press Note No. (1).

(v) (a) No minor shall be eligible either to participate in the auction or purchase evacuee land.

(b)No one shall bepermitted to bid on behalf of anyone.

(i)No Government servant shall be eligible to participate in the auctions.

(ii)An intending Scheduled Caste bidder, shall at the start of auction, produce the following documents;

(a)A schedule caste certificate from either of these authorities viz. District Magistrate Sub Divisional Magistrate, M.L.A., M.P.; Chairman of the Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti;

(b)A certificate from the Lambardar of the village Sarpanch or Chairman of the Block Samiti or Zila Parishad that he is tiller, tenant, sepi or Sanjhi or agricultural labourer depending upon agriculture and knows ploughing well enough.

(c)An affidavit duly attested by a competent authority deposing (i) the area of his own holding with its kind of soil, khasra Nos) and the village/ Tehsil/ District in which located, accompanies by excerpts of jamabandis(ii) that he is not bidding on behalf of anybody else and intend purchasing the land for himself and (iii) that he is not offering a bid on behalf of any Govt. Official belonging to Scheduled Caste or otherwise and that the participant is not dependent or relation of any of such official.

(iii)A scheduled caste M.P. and M.L.A. shall not be required to produce the aforesaid certificates. A statement by him on oath before the auctioning officer shall suffice. But he shall be required to produce excerpts of jamabandis in support of his holding, if any.

(iv)Own holding of an intending bidder, shall be the same as defined in sub para (vii) of Para I above.

(v)If any of the documents tendered by a successful auction purchaser or the statement made by him on oath is found to be false subsequently, then not only the sale made in his favour shall be liable to be cancelled and the amount if any, paid by him forfeited, but he may also be prosecuted.

(vi)Clause (ix) of the Press Note No. (1) should invariably be announced while doing Mushtri Munadi in the village so that the Rai Sikhs, if any settled there, should also know that in the event the highest bid tendered by a Harijan auction purchaser remains below the reserve price, they could be participate in the auction. It will then enable an auctioning officer, to complete the auction of this particular lot of land, on the same day. If, however, the said lot has to be sold in open auction then it shall be necessary to hold it on some other date.

(vii)The sale shall be conducted on the spot.

(viii)Before starting the auction, the intending purchasers should be advised to see the land being put to sale.

(ix)As here to fore, the presence of Sarpanch, members of Gram Panchayats, Lambardars and other prominent persons of the village, as also the approximate number of persons attending the sale, shall be recorded before conducting a sale.

(x)Before conducting a sale, Lots of land shall be formed by the auctioning officer, after consulting Shajra Parcha. Such lots of irrigated land, shall be of 3 to 4 ordinary acres each and that of Banjar and Ghairmumkin land, between 5 to 6 acres each.

(xi)The land which was unirrigated, but has become irrigated as a result of the provision of sources of irrigation by the occupants, if any, at their expense, shall not be treated as irrigated. If, however, some irrigational facilities have, in the meantime, been provided at Government cost, and the land is commanded by the same; then it shall be treated as irrigated. In the former case, the kind of soil as it obtained immediately before the provision of irrigational facilities by the occupants shall be taken for conversion into standard acres. In the latter case, the kind of soil as entered in the latest Khasra Girdawari be taken.

(xii)While forming lots, special attention be paid to position of existing paths, water courses etc. It is not intended that an auctioning officer, should provide a path to a particular lot, situate away from the path already provided during consolidation.

(xiii)In the case of the Chahi lands, the share thereof in the evacuee well shall be mentioned on the Fard lot to be prepared in each case.

(xiv)Immediately at the fall of the hammer and before the sale of the next lot, the auctioning officer shall scrutinize the entitlement of the successful bidder to purchase surplus evacuee land vis-à-vis the documents tendered by him or the statement made by him on oath.

(xv)If as a result of the scrutiny, it is established that an auction purchaser has purchased more land than admissible, then excess area out of the lost should be sliced, in such a way that it can be resold alongwith the next contiguous lot of land.

(xvi)The price of the sliced land shall be deducted proportionately from the price of lot sold and the earnest money recovered accordingly.

(xvii)After an area has been sliced, it shall be resold alongwith next lot of replotting of the area available for sale, as far as practicable. Otherwise, it shall be sold as an independent unit, in restricted auction, even if the area is less than two acres.

(xviii)The confirmation of a sale shall be subject to the rules framed by the State Government. After a sale has been confirmed by a competent authority, a warrant of possession shall be issued to the successful auction purchaser provided that in case of a Rai Sikh or other non Harijan auction purchaser, such warrant of possession shallbe issued only after the payment of balance price in full.

III. Allotment of land to disabled soldiers:

No change in the instructions already issued in this connection is contemplated. Therefore, all pending applications should be disposed of in accordance with the Government instructions.

If a disabled soldier, who himself was declared eligible for allotment of land under the Government policy dies before such allotment, is actually made to him, his eligibility will be considered to have passed on his widow, children or parents, as the case may be.

IV Sale of lands falling under the Excepted Categories:

These sales have also to be done in accordance with the rules framed by the State Government, in open auctions. The smaller bits of land upto 2 acres will, however, be disposed of by restricted auctions.

2. A weekly progress report with regard to the disposal of land by way of allotment to disabled soldiers etc. transfer to the occupants, and by auctions, restricted and open, separately should be submitted to this Department with a copy to the Settlement Officer concerned in the enclosed form. This statement will be complied and a consolidated statement submitted for the information of Government. This report should be despatched on every Friday without fail.

3. It is impressed upon all concerned that the entire work is time bound and has to be completed strictly on schedule. Therefore, there should be no laxity on the part of any official anywhere.

Sd/-H.G.Trighatia

Deputy Secretary to Govt. Punjab

Rehabiliation Department.

                                                                                       PRESS NOTE

For some time past, the question of disposal of surplus rural evacuee agricultural lands has been engaging the attention of Government. After careful consideration of the problem in perspective, it has been decided that these lands should be disposed of as quickly as possible, in any case within a period of 9 to 10 months in the following manner :

(I) The lands occupied by the members of scheduled castes and Rai Sikhs from Rabi 1970 or earlier shall be transferred to them on prescribed rates, subject to a ceiling of 5 standard acres or 10 ordinary acres each inclusive of a transferee’s own holding if any.

(II) Land under unauthorised occupation which is not transferable on the basis of possession as also the Banjar and Ghair Mumkin lands excluding the lands;

(a)required for allotment to unsatisfied claimants;

(b)already reserved for allotment to disabled soldiers, widows, parents, children etc. of the soldiers killed in Chinese and Pakistan aggressions;

(c)earmarked for transfer to the Forest Department.

(d)Required for public purposes shall be disposed of by auctions restricted to members of scheduled castes on the following terms and conditions:

(i)Only landless scheduled caste tillers including tenants, sepis, sanjis and agricultural labourers depending upon agriculture, provided they know ploughing etc. well enough will be eligible to participate in the auctions.

(ii)A successful auction purchaser would not be eligible to transfer, sell or part with the lands so purchased in any manner in favour of a person who is not a member of scheduled castes, for a period of 20 year.

(iii)An auction purchaser who is head of a family can purchase land to the extent of 5 standard acres or 10 ordinary acres inclusive of his own holdings, if any.

(iv)No Government servant or his dependent can be eligible take part in the auctions. Scheduled Caste N.Ps. M.L.As and Ex. M.L.Cs. and their dependents will, however, be eligible to participate in the auctions.

(v)No minor or any one on his behalf can bid in the restricted auctions.

(vi)The members ofscheduled castes who have disposed of the lands already purchased by them in restricted auctions and have this misused the concession allowed to them by Government can not be participate in these auctions.

(vii)(a)A successful scheduled caste auction purchaser shall be liable to pay 5% of the bid money at the fall of the hammer and the balance amount in 19 half yearly interest free instalments. But on everdue instalments 7% interest shall be chargeable from the due date to the date of actual payment.

(b)In the event of default in payment of two successive instalments, the land shall be resumed and the amount already paid forfeited. The land, thus, resumed shall be resold in restricted auction.

(viii)The land purchased by a scheduled caste auction purchaser should be cultivated by him or through member(s) of scheduled castes.

(ix)If in the case of a lot of land, the highest bid tendered by a member of scheduled caste falls below the reserve price then Rai Sikhs would also be permitted to bid for that lot. If in spite of that the bid tendered remains below the reserve price, the said lot of land, will be sold by open auction.

(x)A successful non harijan auction purchaser shall be liable to pay the bid money as in the case of open auction.

(III) Lands falling under the excepted categories shall continue to be disposed of through open auctions, as hereto force.

2. The restricted auctions will start with immediate effect and will be continue till, the auctionable area is exhausted. Village wise auction programme will be advertised by the Tehsildars/Naib Tehsildars(Sales) of the districts concerned from time to time well in advance, as required under the rules. Any further information required in this behalf can be had from the office of the Tehsildar (Sales)/ Naib Tehsildar (Sales) of the district or the Unit concerned.

Rehabilitation Department

PRESS NOTE

The decisions taken by the State Government for the disposal of surplus rural evacuee agricultural lands, have already been announced by the Press Note dated October 8, 1971. One of the decisions taken is that the lands occupied by the members of scheduled castes and rai sikhs from Rabi 1970 or earlier, should be transferred to them on prescribed rates subject to a ceiling of 5 standard acres or 10 ordinary acre each, inclusive of the transferee’s own holding if any. Such transfers will be subject to the following conditions:

(i) (a) The cultivating possession of an occupant is established to be continuous from the entries in the Khasra Girdawari from Rabi 1970; and

(b)he is the head of his family.

(ii) A Scheduled Caste occupant shall be eligible to pay the price of the land @ Rs. 500/- per standard acre in 5 annual equated instalments with interest at 7% per annum; the first instalment payable at the time of transfer, while a Rai Sikh occupant shall pay this price @ Rs. 1000 per standard acres.

(iii) The occupants shall also be liable to make payment in lumpsum of arrears on account of rent/lease money of the land under their unauthorised occupation, alongwith the first instalment payable at the time of transfer.

(iv) In the event of default on the part of a transferee, in the payment of any instalment/balance money in time, the land transferred to him will be resumed and the amount paid by him forfeited.

The Harijan and Rai Sikh occupants, who consider themselves eligible for the transfer of the lands occupied by them in terms of the above decision, should file applications for the transfer of the same on a simple paper in the following Unit concerned by December 15, 1971 positively:

(a)Name and parentage of the applicant.

(b)Present Address

(c)(i)Whether Rai Sikh or member of Scheduled Caste.

(i)Whether head of the family.

(d)Area and Khasra numbers of the land occupied by him with the name of the village/Tehsil in which the land is situate.

(e)Particulars of the land, if any, already owned by the applicant with he name of the village/Tehsil in which located.

Each application should be accompanied by:

(a) an affidavit duly attested by a competent authority declaring that the facts stated in the application are correct to the best of the knowledge and belief of the applicant.

(b) a certificate from District ,Sub Divisional Magistrate or Chairman of the Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti concerned to the effect that the applicant is a member of the Scheduled Caste or is a Rai Sikh.

(c) extracts from the relevant khasra Girdawari or Jamabandi.

3. Any application received by post or otherwise after the prescribed date shall not be entertained.

Rehabilitation Department

Progress report regarding disposal of Surplus Rural Evacuee Agricultural Land Sale Unit: Week ending:
Sr.No.	Items of disposal	No.of cases/application pending as on 1/9/1979	No. of cases/applications disposed of during the period under report	Area in Std. & Ordy. As allotted/ transferred / sold
1	2	3	4	5
Price fetched in respect of items 2 to 5	Progressive total of cases / applications disposed of	Progressive total of the price fetched	No. of cases/ applications pending	Remarks
6	7	8	9	10
1. Allotment to unsatisfied claimants
2. Allotment to disabled soldiers widows of soldiers etc.
3. Transfer to Harijans & Rai Sikhs
4. Restricted auctions
5. Open auctions
Total

State Telegram Express

Tehsildar (Sales)

POSTPONE AUCTIONS OF SURPLUS RURAL EVACUEE LANDS TILL TWENTY THIRD INSTANT(.)

Not to be telegraphed.

Sd/-Establishment & Accounts Officer

For Deputy Secretary to Govt. Punjab

Rehabilitation Department.

Endst.No.2(505)/8124-34/G-5 Dated Jalandhar the 18/4/1973

A copy is forwarded by post, in confirmation, to the Tehsildar (Sales) _______. Auctions of evacuee lands, already programmed for sale, should be stayed till 23/4/1973 and in the meanwhile auctions already conducted should not be confirmed till further orders.

Sd/-Establishment & Accounts Officer

For Deputy Secretary to Govt. Punjab

Rehabilitation Department.