TMI Blog1967 (3) TMI 113X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in with him. Para 7 of the Scheme which was finalised under S. 20 of the Act provided as follows : The existing houses and permanent enclosures shall be kept in the ownership and possession of those proprietors who were owners in possession prior to the consolidation and in addition if these persons so desire, they shall be entitled to be given additional area upto one bigha for extension of the abadi. In the case of such persons of right holders who have constructed houses or enclosures etc. within the Shaimlat area they would keep them in their possession but adjustment would be made out of their Khewat land................ Later on the Director of Consolidation, to whom the powers of the State Government under S. 42 of the Act had been delegated reconsidered this matter and ordered that this particular piece of land i.e., khasra No. 3942 should be reserved for the extension of abadi for non-proprietors. The Director of Consolidation accordingly ordered that instead of being reserved for Johrimal, the plot should be kept for the non-proprietors and the Consolidation records should be changed to that extent. The order of the Director of Consolidation was dated March 8 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng of greater market value than that of his original holding. Under s. 19, the Consolidation Officer .shall cause to be published the draft scheme of consolidation, and Within 30 days of such publication any person likely to be affected by such scheme may communicate in writing to the Consolidation Officer, any objection relating to it. The Consolidation Officer shall then consider the objections, if any and submit the scheme with such amendments as he may consider to be necessary together with his remarks on the objection to the Settlement Officer (Consolidation). The scheme as amended shall then be published. Section 20 provides that if no objections are received to the draft scheme, the Settlement Officer (Consolidation) shall confirm the scheme. If objections are received, then the Settlement Officer (Consolidation) may either confirm the scheme, with or without modifications, or refuse to confirm it. If the scheme is confirmed it should be published. Section 21 relates to repartition to be carried out by the Consolidation Officer in accordance with the scheme as confirmed under s. 20 and the boundaries of the holdings as demarcated are required to be shown on the shajra w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n 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. Section 46 of the Act confers powers on the State Government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the Act and in particular to provide for : (e) the manner in which the area is to be reserved under S. 18 and the manner in which it is to be dealt with and also the manner in which the village abadi is to be given to proprietors and non-proprietors (including scheduled castes, Sikh backward classes, artisans and labourers) on payment of compensation or otherwise; On March 3, 1956 the Punjab Government, by a notification, added rule 16 to the Rules for reservation of the abadi for the proprietors as well as the non-proprietors and it read as follows : The area to be reserved for the common purpose of extension of abadi for proprietors and non-proprietors under section 18(c) of the Act shall be reserved after scrutinizing the demand of proprietors desirous of building houses and of non-proprietors including Harijan families wo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ; Panchayat Ghar; Janj Ghar; grazing grounds; tanning places; mela grounds; public places, of religious or charitable nature; and (iv) schools and play,grounds, dispensaries, -hospitals and institutions of like nature, waterworks 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. Section 2 of the amending Act (Act 27 of 1960) amended the preamble and read as follows : Amendment of long title of East Punjab Act L of 1948. In the long title of the East Punjab Holdings (Consolidation and Prevention of Fragmentation) Act, 1948 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), the words and for the assignment or reservation of land for common purposes of the village shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, added at the end. Section 4 added a new section 23-A which was to the following effect : Management and control of lands for common purposes to vest in Panchayats.-As soon as a scheme comes into force, the management and control of all lands assigned or reserved for common purposes of the village under section 18 sh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or dated March 8, 1957 was ultra vires since the procedure contemplated by s. 36 of the Act has not been followed. In our opinion, there is no justification for this argument. Section 42 of the Act as amended by Act 27 of 1960 authorised the State Government to interfere with the scheme of consolidation or repartition made under the Act. What the amending Act has done is to substitute for the words any order passed by any officer under this Act , the words any order passed, scheme prepared or confirmed or repartition made by any officer under this Act . Section 36 of the Act, on the other hand, authorises the authority confirming a scheme to alter or revoke it and in that case the new scheme must be published, objections heard and decided and the scheme has to be confirmed once again in accordance with the procedure under ss. 19 and 20 of the Act. In our opinion the power conferred on the State Government under s. 42 is a separate power independent of S. 36 of the Act which deals with the power of the authority confirming the scheme. There is hence no force in the contention that the scheme of consolidation cannot be varied by the State Government under S. 42 of the Act exce ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... i, no land should have been reserved for a common purpose in the area under consolidation or the lands so reserved should have been inadequate. It was pointed out that in the order of the Director there is no mention that no land had been reserved for the common purpose in the village or that the land so reserved in the scheme was inadequate. The opposite view-point was presented by Mr. Gopal Singh on behalf of the respondents. It was contended that s. 18(c) gives a wide power to the Consolidation Officer to reserve any land for the common purpose including extension of the village abadi and there is no requirement imposed in the section that the land reserved should be taken from the proprietors and other right-holders in accordance with their rateable share. It was contended by the respondents that no limitation should be placed on the plain language of the section. In our opinion, the argument put forward on behalf of the appellant is well-founded and must be accepted as correct. It is true that s. 18(c) confers a power on the Consolidation Officer to reserve the land of the proprietors for any common purpose including the extension of the village abadi and there is no expr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... XVI of 1957 : Thus the land which is taken over is a small bit, which sold by itself would hardly fetch anything. These small bits of lands are collected from various tenure-holders and consolidated in one place and added to the land which might be lying vacant so that it may be used for the purposes of s. 14(1) (ee). A compact area is thus created and it is used for the purposes of the tenure-holders themselves and other villagers. Form CH-21 framed under r. 41(a) shows the purposes to which this land would be applied, namely, (1) plantation of trees, (2) pasture land, (3) manure pits, (4) threshing floor, (5) cremation ground, (6) graveyards, (7) primary or other school, (8) playground, (9) Panchayat ghar, and (10) such other objects. These small bits of land thus acquired from tenureholders are consolidated and used for these purposes, which are directly for the benefit of the tenure-holders. They are deprived of a small bit and in place of it they are given advantages in a much larger area of land made up of these small bits and also of vacant land. In other words, a proprietor gets advantages which he could never have got apart from the scheme. For example, if h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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