Order dated 14.11.2000

Government of Punjab

Department of Revenue and Rehabilitation

(Policy and Legal Branch)

Orders of Financial Commissioner Revenue, Punjab in exercise of power u/s 33 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 against the orders of Managing Officer, Rehabilitation (HQ) dated 4.11.1996.

ORDER

 1.The matter herein pertains to allotment of land to Girdhari Lal son of Mohan Lal in lieu of the land abandoned by him in Pakistan.  The facts of the case are that Sh. G.S.Nagra and G.K.Chawla, Advocates made an application dated 13.3.95 on behalf of Girdhari Lal without obtaining his signatures thereon, stating that the applicant was allotted land comprised of Khasra No.1039 (1-3) Janub and 989min (0-15) situated in village Ranike-4 Tehsil Jagraon, District Ludhiana at the time of general allotment.  He was minor at that time and through his relation Sh. Sahib Ditta possession of the land was taken and the same was given to some-one for cultivation.  It was further alleged that the allotment was wrongly cancelled without issuing any notice on the plea that the applicant had not taken possession of the land.  He further stated that he had made an application on 11.6.58 to the office of Land Claims (Rehabilitation) Punjab at Jalandhar and had not heard anything in response to that application.

2.The aforesaid application dated 13.3.95 was rejected by the Managing Officer on the ground that the applicant was unable to produce any document/proof in support of his allegation regarding allotment.The said order of the Managing Officer was challenged in appeal before the Settlement Commissioner who passed order dated 22.8.95 thereby setting aside the said order of the Managing Officer and remanded the case to the Managing Officer for fresh decision.The Managing Officer passed order dated 4.11.96 regarding the entitlement of Girdhari Lal for the allotment of land measuring 0-9¾ units.When the case was received back for re-verification, certain glaring irregularities were detected by the present Managing Officer and the instant reference was made for rejecting the claim of Girdhari Lal.Consequently it was considered necessary to hear Shri Girdhari Lal and therefore he was summoned through registered post as well as the Process Server to appear before me. He did not appear despite service.Instead he sent a telegram to the address of Joint Secretary Revenue & Rehabilitation Department intimating that he had filed a Civil Writ Petition No.9225 of 2000 before the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court.He further stated that the department may take decision in accordance with law and the same may be filed alongwith the reply to the writ petition before the Hon’ble High Court.However, Sh. Girdhari Lal did not appear on the date fixed.

3.I have carefully perused the record and the reference of the Managing Officer and find that there is no merit in the claim of Shri Girdhari Lal.The claimant has not furnished any documentary evidence regarding the cancellation of his previous allotment on the basis of which according to his own admission, possession was taken through his relation Sh. Sahib Ditta and the same was given to some-one for cultivation.In the application dated 13.9.95 which was not signed by Girdhari Lal himself, which culminated in the order dated 4.11.96 of the Managing Officer thereby determining the entitlement of Girdhari Lal, there is a mention of the previous application dated 11.6.58.That was merely an application for restoration ofsome earlier application dated 20.6.57 which was stated to have been consigned to the record room on 30.7.57.There is no explanation to justify the silence of Shri Girdhari Lal for more than 37 long years in making the application dated 13.9.95 which too is not signed by him and is signed by Advocates only.He has nowhere justified this unconscionably long silence.

4.With a view to afford a fair and effective opportunity to the applicant for substantiating his claim and the allegations contained in his application, he was directed to appear in person on 7.11.2000.But instead of availing himself of this opportunity complacently he informed that he has filed a Civil Writ Petition No.9225 of 2000 in the Hon’ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana and the department may take any decision in accordance with law.The conduct of Girdhari Lal in not putting in appearance in this court unmistakably shows that there is no merit in his claim.It was obligatory for him to substantiate his claim by personal appearance. He has not bothered to produce the allotment order which according to him was cancelled.Action could inevitably be taken only if he had produced any allotment order as also the cancellation order or any other documentary evidence in support of his claim.The department cannot act in complete vacuum.The onus was heavy on the applicant to produce the aforesaid relevant documents in order to enable this department to adjudge the maintainability and genuineness of his claim. On the contrary, as per his own admission he had taken possession of the land through his relative Sahib Ditta and the same was given to some one for cultivation also.He also admits that 2-3 crops were sown during the time the land remained with him.This admission alone, in the absence of any formal cancellation letter demolishes his claim for any fresh allotment. Since the petitioner admits having received possession through his uncle, this also leads to the inevitable conclusion that the I-D register, on the basis of which his allotment case was prepared, had not been up dated.The Managing Officer was not justified, in relaying upon the report submitted by Kuldip Singh, Senior Assistant as it was contrary to facts as admitted by the petitioner himself.

5.In view of the above discussion I do not find any merit in the claim of the applicant.Therefore, the clearance conveyed vide letter dated 24.2.98 is withdrawn and in exercise of powers vested in me u/s 33 of the DP(C & R) Act, order dated 4.11.96 of the Managing Officer is set aside.

                                                                          (SHYAMA MANN)

Chandigarh, dated                                                Financial Commissioner Revenue,

the  14^th Nov.,2000                                                 Punjab.