Follow Us
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 29
More than two years after Haryana came out with a provision for permitting gram panchayat land to be leased out virtually free of cost for up to 99 years to even those in unauthorised possession, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the rule.
Asserting that “the fate of shamlat deh land in all villages of Haryana was at stake”, a Division Bench also made it clear that gram panchayat/shamlat deh land would not be leased out for more than two years as prescribed under the earlier rules.
The Division Bench also referred the matter to a larger Bench. Among other things, the larger Bench would determine whether the impugned provision was an attempt to destroy the gram panchayat as an institution of local self-government.
The development took place on a petition by Dalel Singh and other petitioners against Haryana and other respondents. The petitioners had challenged the notification dated December 13, 2013, vide which Rule 6-A on the leasing out of land was inserted in the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) Rules as applicable to Haryana.
The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice AB Chaudhari was told that the Common Land (Regulations) Act was enacted for utilising shamlat deh/gram panchayat land “for the benefit of the inhabitants of the village concerned…”
But the impugned provision was inserted to extend undue benefit to a particular class of persons in unauthorised possession of huge chunks of gram panchayat/shamlat deh land. They were ordered to be evicted by quasi-judicial forums; and the evictions orders had attained finality.
Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted the contentions raised on the petitioners’ behalf required serious consideration. Shamlat deh or village common land was the primary source of income for gram panchayats. As such, certain questions were required to be determined by a larger Bench.
5
8