TMI Blog1968 (4) TMI 81X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1947 leaving behind three sons, Om Parkash, Sat Narain and Ram Parshotam who are the respondents in this appeal. As a result of the partition of India the land originally owned by Nanak Chand and after his death by his sons in Bahawalpur State had to be abandoned. After the partition of India the three respondents migrated to India and filed separate claims in accordance with law and obtained allotment of certain area in village Kot Kapura, district Bhatinda in lieu of the land abandoned by them in Pakistan. The Revenue Authorities allotted an area measuring 206.8 1/2 standard acres in village Kot Kapura, District Bhatinda. After the allotment was made one Rur Singh filed a complaint before the Managing Officer that these respondents had re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in column 3 of the fard taqsim is altered in favour of the heirs. 3. It was held by the Chief Settlement Commissioner that this paragraph related to all persons who continued to be shown as owners in the revenue records, irrespective of the fact whether they had died before or after migration. In other words, the Chief Settlement Commissioner took the view that the land could only be allotted in the name of Nanak Chand even assuming that he had died in June, 1947. Against the order of the Chief Settlement Commissioner the respondents filed a Writ Petition (Civil Writ No. 841 of 1961) before the Punjab High Court. The Writ Petition was allowed by the High Court by its order dated September 13, 1963 and the orders of the Chief Settlement ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he said Act to displaced persons. Para 2(e) of this notification states : Displaced person means a land holder in the territories now comprised in the province of West Punjab or a person of Punjabi extraction who holds land in the Provinces of North-Western Frontier Province, Sind or Baluchistan or any State adjacent to any of the aforesaid Provinces and acceding to the Dominion of Pakistan, and who has since the 1st day of March, 1947, abandoned or been made to abandon his land in the said territories on account of civil disturbances, or the fear of such disturbances, or the partition of the country. 5. Section 2(d) of the East Punjab Refugees (Registration of Land Claims) Act. 1948 (East Punjab Act No. XII of 1948) states : ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Dominion of Pakistan, and who has since the 1st day of March 1947, abandoned or been made to abandon his land in the said territories on account of civil disturbances, or the fear of such disturbances, or the partition of the country . 7. Section 2(b) of this Act defines an allottee as follows : 'allottee' means a displaced person to whom land is allotted by the Custodian under the conditions published with East Punjab Government notification no. 4892/S, dated the 8th July, 1949, and includes his heirs, legal representatives and sub-lessees . 8. The main question to be considered in this appeal is whether Nanak Chand was a 'displaced person' as defined in para 2(e) of the notification dated July 8, 1949 or a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat the instructions contained in this paragraph would apply even though Nanak Chand had never become a refugee or a displaced land-holder and the allotment has to be made in his name by the revenue authorities because his name still stands in the revenue records received from West Punjab. We are unable to accept this argument as correct. It is not disputed that paragraph 17 of Tarlok Singh's Manual has no statutory authority but it merely embodies executive or administrative instructions for general guidance. If there is a conflict between the provisions contained in this paragraph and the statutory enactments already referred to it is manifest that the statutory provisions must take precedence and must prevail over the directions cont ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o our basic constitutional concept. 11. In our opinion, however, it is possible to give a restricted interpretation to paragraph 17 of Tarlok Singh's Manual so as to make it consistent the requirements of the statutory enactments. The intention of para 17 is that it is applicable only to such persons who are land-holders at the time of their becoming displaced persons or refugees who died afterwards before allotment could be made in their favour. In other words, the paragraph applies to a displaced land-holder who dies after having become a displaced person within the meaning of the relevant statutory enactments referred to above. The paragraph does not apply to a case of a person who was not a displaced land-holder at the time of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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