REMOVAL OF ENCROACHMENTS FROM GOVERNMENT LANDS

REMOVAL OF ENCROACHMENTS

The Revenue Officers have to deal with the cases of encroachments on various types of government lands. The laws relating to removal of encroachments from such lands are discussed in this chapter:

TYPES OF LANDS

1.PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT LANDS

2.NAZOOL LANDS

3.INFERIOR EVACUEE LANDS

4.EVACUEE LANDS

5.LANDS ALLOTTED TO DISPLACED PERSONS

6.MUAFI AND DERA LANDS

7.PROPERTIES OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

8.PANCHAYAT LANDS

9.MUNICIPALS LANDS

 

1. PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT LANDS

1. The Provincial government lands are either managed by the Revenue Department or by the concerned Administrative Department. They are recorded in the ownership of provincial government in the ownership column of Jamabandi. In cultivation column the name of the concerned Administrative Department is recorded.

2. Provincial government lands are covered under the definition of Punjab Public Premises Act. Rule 2(e) of the Punjab Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1973 and therefore encroachments from such lands can be removed. The SDMs of the Sub-Division has been designated as Collectors. The relevant provisions of the Act are :

Section 3- Unuthorized occupation of public premises

Section 4- Issue of notice to show cause against the order of eviction.

Section 5- Eviction of un-authorized persons.

Section 7-Power to recover damages

Section 9- Offences and penalty

2. NAZOOL LANDS

1 Nazool lands are also owned by the Punjab Government and therefore they are covered under the definition of public premises under Section 2(e) of the Punjab Public Premises Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1973. See Chapter 1 – Provincial Government Lands for more deatails.

3. INFERIOR EVACUEE LANDS

1. The inferior evacuee lands were purchased by the Punjab Government from the Central Government in 1960 or so. They have been recorded in the ownership of provincial government lands in the ownership column of Jamabandi. Such lands are provincial government lands and therefore encroachments from such lands can be removed under Punjab Public Premises Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery)Act,1973.

4. EVACUEE LANDS

1. The Punjab Package Deal Properties (Disposal) Act 1976 covers the evacuee lands purchased by the Punjab Government from the Central Government vide package deals of 3/6/1961, 23/3/1963 and 29/3/1963. The evacuee lands and properties were purchased after payment of price to the Central Government. Such lands are recorded in the ownership of Central Government in the Jamabandis:

2. Section 7- Package Deal Property and Act empowers the Naib Tehsildar Sales or Tehsildar Sales to issue notice, eject an un authorized person from the property and take possession.

Section 5- to recover damages- this section empowers the Tehsildar sales or Naib Tehsildar Sales to recover damages for un authorized occupation.

Section 16- Bar to jurisdictions of Civil Courts- this section bars the jurisdiction of Civil Courts. This section also bars the applicability of Punjab Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1973 for evacuee lands. It may therefore be ensured that cases for encroachments from evacuee lands and properties are not filed under Punjab Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1973 and they should be filed only under Punjab Package Deal Property (Disposal) Act, 1974.

5. LANDS ALLOTTED TO DISPLACED PERSONS

1. The Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act 1954 is applicable to the lands, which were allotted to displaced persons from Pakistan. This Act is also applicable to the properties purchased by the Punjab Government from the Central Government vide financial arrangements of 1970. Encroachments from such lands can be removed under Section 19 of the Act. The Managing Officer (Tehsildar Mahal) can issue notice under section 19(3) and eject the un-authorized persons. Section 19(4) empowers him to recover damages for un-authorized possession.

6. MUAFI AND DERA LANDS

1. Muafi and Deras were given for specific purposes by the erstwhile Maharaja in the Pepsu areas. Such properties could not be alienated through lease of sale.

Para 164 - of Punjab Land Administration Manual prohibits lands and sale of such properties.

Para 176 to 182 of the Punjab Land Administration Manual specify the conditions under which the Muafi and Dera lands could be resumed by the State Government.

Para 14 to 18 of the Financial Commissioner Revenue Standing Order No. 7 deals with the appointment of Mohitmim. Para 23 and 24 of the Standing Order No.7 empowers the Financial Commissioner Revenue to resume the Muafi.

2. If Mohitmim has breached the conditions attached to the Muafinama or has alienated the property or has mis-used it for his ownself then such Mohitmim is liable to be removed and Muafi resumed. Once the Mohitmim is removed and Muafi resumed, the property stands transferred to the State Government and therefore encroachments can be removed under Punjab Public Premises Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1973. There may be other cases where Mohitmim have died and no new Mohitmim has been appointed by the State Government. The control of such Muafi/deras therefore vests with the State Government and the encroachments can be removed under the Punjab Public Premises Act.

7. PROPERTIES BELONGING TO RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

1. For the properties belonging to religious institutions the Punjab Religious Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1997 was enacted in the year 1998. A religious institution has been defined as under: -

Section 2 (d) “Religious Institutions”, means any gurudwara, temple, church, mosque, temple of Jains or Budhas - which is registered under the provisions of the Societies Registration Act, 1860(Central Act No. XXI of 1860) or is established under any statute and includes any other placed of worship by whatever name, it may be called, which is registered as aforesaid or is established under any statute;

Section 2(e) “Religious premises”, means any land whether used for agricultural or non-agricultural purposes, or any building or part of a building belonging to a Religious Institution and includes -

The encroachments from the premises of religious institutions which are registered under the Society Registration Act, 1807 or established under any statute can be removed under this Act. The SGPC Gurudwaras are covered under this Act.

8. PANCHAYAT LANDS

The Panchayat lands are recorded in the ownership of the following in the ownership column of Jamabandi:

(a)Shamlat Deh/Panchayat Deh

(b)Jumla Mushtarka Malkan Hassab Rasad Khewat or Jumla Malkan Wah Digar Wa Haqdaran Arazi Hassab Rasad. At some olaces they are still recorded in the ownership of of individual co sharers of the village.

A. LAND RECORED AS SHAMLAT DEH / PANCHYAT DEH

1. Lands recorded as Shamlat Deh /Panchayat Deh are covered under the definition of Shamlat Deh under section 2(g)(i) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 and therefore encroachments from such lands can be removed under the Act. Relevant provisions of the Act are:

Section 7-Power to put Panchayat in possession of Shamlat Deh

Section 13 A- Penalties and Procedure : imposes the punishment of imprisonment of 2 years for un-authorized possession.

Rule 20- Putting Panchayat under possession.

Rule 21- Eviction

Rule 21 A – Damages.

2. The land recorded as Panchayat Deh/Shamlat Deh are also covered under the definition of Punjab Public Premises Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1973 and therefore encroachments from such lands can also be removed under the Punjab Public Premises Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act.

B. LAND RECORD IN THE OWNERSHIP OF JUMLA MUSHTARKA MALKAN.

1. Lands reserved for common purposes to be recorded as Jumla Mustarkan Malkan : It is necessary to examine the relevant provisions of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 for appreciating the problem for such lands.

Section 2(bb) defines “common purpose” includes extension of Village Abadi, providing income to panchayat, village roads and drains, ponds, Bus stands, public latrines, cremation and burial grounds, schools, dispensaries, hospitals etc.

Section 18 - Empowers the Consolidation Officer to reserve lands for common purposes in the village.

Section 23 A- Stipulates that management and control of lands reserved for common purposes shall vests in the Panchayat or the State Government.

Rules 16(ii) of The East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentations) Rules, 1949 stipulates that the land reserved for common purposes would be recorded as Jumla Malkan Wa Digar Haqdaran Arazi Hassab Rasad in the ownership column of the Jamabandi.

2. Lands reserved for common purposes not to be recorded in the ownership of individual cosharers : Lands reserved for common purposes are therefore recorded in the ownership of Jumla Malkan in the Jamabandis in most of the places. However, in some villages the lands reserved for common purposes are still recorded in the ownership of all the co-sharers of the village. This is not proper as explained above. Therefore such lands should be recorded in the ownership of Jumla Malkan. A detailed order passed by the DC Ferozepur on 28/7/1995 in regard to this is enclosed herewith for ready reference.

3. Removal of Encroachments :

(1) Lands reserved for common purposes which are or should be recorded as Jumla Malkan are not covered under the definition of Shamlat Deh under Section 2(g) and therefore the provisions of Punjab Village Common Land (Regulations) Act, 1961 are not applicable to such lands. Haryana State has amended section 2(g)(vi) and lands reserved for common purposes of the village under Section 18 of the Consolidation Act, 1948 have been included in the definition of Shamlat Deh and therefore for Haryana State such lands are covered under the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulations) Act, 1962 and encroachments can be removed.

(2) For the State of Punjab the encroachments from lands reserved for common purposes which are recorded as Jumla Mushtarka Malkan in Jamabandi can be removed in the following two ways:

(i) The Punjab Public Premises ( Land Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1973 read with Punjab Gram Panchayat (Common Purposes Land) Eviction and Rent Recovery Act, 1976 covers such lands. Jumla Mushtarka Malkan lands are not covered under the definition public premises under section 2(e) of the Punjab Public Premises Act. Punjab Gram Panchayat (Common Purposes Lands) Eviction and Rent Recovery Act, 1976 was enacted to bring the lands reserved under Section 18 of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 under the Punjab Public Premises Act 1973. The Act of 1976 therefore makes the Punjab Public Premises (Land Eviction and Rent Recovery) Act, 1973 applicable to lands reserved for common purposes. A copy of 1976 Act is enclosed herewith.

(ii) Section 150 of Punjab Land Revenue Act- Section 150 of Punjab Land Revenue Act empowers the revenue officers i.e. Naib Tehsildar, Tehsildar, SDM, DC etc. to remove the encroachments from such lands. Section 150 reads as follows:

Prevention of encroachment on common lands-

(1)Where land which has been reserved for the common purposes, of the co-sharers therein has been encroached on by any co-sharer, a Revenue Officer may, on the application of any other co-sharer, eject the encroaching co-sharer from the lands, and by order proclaimed in manner mentioned in section 22 forbid repetition of the encroachment.

(2)The proceedings of the Revenue Officer under sub-section (1) shall be subject to any decree or order, which may be subsequently passed by any court of competent jurisdiction.

ACT No 20 of 1976

An Act to provide for the eviction of unauthorized occupants from Land reserved for common purposes under the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of

Fragmentation) Act, 1948 the management and control whereof vests in the Gram Panchayat and for certain incidental matters.

Be it enacted by the legislature of the State of Punjab in the Twenty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows.-

1. Short title and commencement

(1) This act may be called the Punjab Gram Panchayat (Common Purposes Land) Eviction and Rent Recovery Act, 1976

(2) It shall come into force at once.

2. Definitions: In the act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) “common purpose land II means land reserved for the common purposes of a village under section 18 of the East Punjab Holdings(Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation)Act, 1948, the management and control whereof vests in the Gram Panchayat under section 23-A of the aforesaid Act:

(b) "Government” means the Government of the State of Punjab.

3. Application of the Punjab Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery Act, 1973 to common purposes land.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the Punjab Public Premises and Land (Eviction and Rent Recovery Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act) shall apply to common purposes land which shall be deemed to be public premises for the purposes of the principal Act.

4. Appeal: Notwithstanding anything in the principal Act an appeal under section 9 of that Act in relation to common purposes land shall lie to an officer not below the rank of a Joint Director of Panchayats appointed by the Government for the said purpose.

*Received the assent of the President of India on 22/4/1976

IMPORTANT/ URGENT

DATE BOUND BY 31/8/1995

From

Satish Chandra, IAS

Deputy Commissioner

Ferozepur

To

1. The DD & PO, Ferozepur.

2. A1l the CROs in the district.

3. A1l the BD & POs in the district

No. 4527-151/dated 28/7/1995

Sub: Sanction of Mutation of land reserved for common purposes in favour of Gram Panchayat.

Memorandum

1. It has been seen that in number of villages the land reserved for common purposes has not been entered in the name of Gram Panchayat. The land is still recorded in the ownership of the co-sharers. In some cases some the co-sharers have sold the land and in other cases such lands are under illegal occupation of un-authorized people.

2. The Gram Panchayats face difficulty in filing cases for removal of encroachments in respect of such lands. Since the land is not recorded in the ownership of Gram Panchayat the cases are not decided in favour of Gram Panchayat. The provisions of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 have been studied in detail.

3. Section 2(bb) defines "common purposes" as follows :-

Section 2(bb ) common purpose means any purpose in relation to any common need, convenience or benefit of the village and includes the following purposes :

(i) extension of the village Abadi ;

(ii) providing income for the Panchayat of the village concerned for the benefit of the village community.

(iii) village roads and paths; village drains; village well ponds or tanks, village water courses or water channels, village bus stands and waiting places, manure pits, hada rori, public latrines, cremation and burial grounds, Panchayat Ghar, Janj Ghar, Grazing Grounds, Tanning Places, Mela Grounds, Public place of religious or charitable nature and;

(iv) school and play-grounds, dispensaries, hospitals and institutions of like nature, water works or tube wells whether such schools play-grounds, dispensaries, hospitals, institutions water-works or tube-wells may be managed and controlled by the State-Government or not.

4. Section 18 of the Act empowers the consolidation officer to reserve certain lands for any common purpose. The section reads as follows :

Section 18 : Land reserved for common purpose : Not withstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, it shall be lawful for the Consolidation Officer to direct -

(a) that any land specifically assigned for any common purpose shall cease to be so assigned and to assign any other land in its place ;

(b) that any land under the bed of stream of torrent flowing through or from the Shiwalik mountain range within the (State) shall be assigned for any common purpose;

(c) that if in any area under consolidation no land is reserved for any common purpose including extension of the village abadi. or if the land so reserved is inadequate to assign other land for such purpose.

5. Section 23-A stipulates that once the consolidation scheme comes into force the management and control of all lands reserved for common purpose shall vest in the Panchayat of that village and the Panchayat shall be entitled to appropriate the income accruing therefrom for the benefit of village community. Section 23-A reads as follows :

Section 23-A: Management and control of lands for common purposes to vest in Panchayats or State Government :

As soon as a scheme comes in to force the management and control of all lands assigned or reserved for common purposes of the village under section 18-

(a) in the case of common purposes specified in sub-clause (iv) of clause (bb ) of section 2 in respect of which the management and control are to be exercised by the State Government, shall vest in the State Government, and

(b) in the case of any other common purpose shall vest in the Panchayat of that village and the State Government or the Panchayat as the case may be, shall be entitled to appropriate the income accruing therefrom for the benefit of the village community and the rights and interest of the owners of such lands shall stand modified and extinguished accordingly,

Provided that in the case of land assigned or reserved for the extension of village abadi or manure pits for the proprietors and no-proprietors of the village such land shall vest in the proprietors and non-proprietors to whom it is given under the scheme of consolidation.

6. Rules 16 (ii) of The East Punjab Holdings (Consolidations and Prevention of Fragmentation) Rules 1949 stipulates that the land reserved for common purposes would be recorded as Jumla Malkan Wa Digar Haqdaran Arazi Hassab Rasad in the ownership column of the Jamabandi. The management of such lands shall be done by the Panchayat.

Rule 16 (ii) reads as follows :-

(ii) In an estate or estates where during consolidation proceedings there is no Shamlat Deh land or such land is considered inadequate land shall be reserved for the village Panchayat and for other common purpose under section 18 (c) of the Act out of the common pool of the village (at the scale given in the schedule to these rules) Proprietary rights in respect of land so reserved (except the area reserved for the extension of abadi or proprietors and non-proprietors) shall vest in the proprietary body of the estate or estates concerned and it shall be entered in the column of ownership of record of rights as (Jumla Malkan Wa Digar Hagdaran Arazi HassabRasad). The management of such land shall be done by the Panchayat of the estate or estates concerned on behalf of the village proprietorv body and the Panchayat shall have the right to utilize the income derived from the land so reserved for the common needs and the benefits of the estate or estates concerned.

7. It is, therefore, quite clear that the land reserved for common purpose should not be recorded in the ownership of individual co-sharers but it should be recorded as Gram Panchayat-Jumla Malkan or Gram Panchayat Hassab Rasad as stipulated in Rule 16 (ii). You are, therefore, directed to scrutinize the entries relating to all such lands and if the land reserved for common purpose are entered in the ownership of individual co-sharers or as only Jumla Malkan then enter and sanction a mutation changing the ownership from individual co-sharers/Jumla Malkan to Gram Panchayat Jumla Malkan/ Hassab Rasad. The Mutation should be entered and sanctioned in a time bound manner and the entire work should be completed by 31/8/1995. You are requested to record certificate that the entries relating to a Bachat / Land reserved for common purpose have been scrutinized and the needful has been done.

(Satish Chandra ) IAS

Deputy Commissioner

Ferozepur

9. MUNICIPAL LANDS

1. Municipal lands are covered under the definition of public premises under Section 2(e) of the Punjab Public Premises Land (Rent and Recovery) Act, 1973 and therefore encroachments from which lands can be removed under the Act.