1986 JTR(SC) 338
1986 AIR(SC) 2197 ; 1986 BBCJ(SC) 161 ; 1986 2 CurCC(SC) 877 ; 1986 JT 497 ; 1986 1 JT 497 ; 1986 PLJ 636 ; 1987 RRR 630 ; 1986 2 Scale 472 ; 1986 4 SCC 364 ; 1986 3 SCR 831 ; 1986 2 UJ 743
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
E.S. VENKATARAMIAH AND V. KHALID, JJ.
Ram Singh and others, Petitioners
Versus
Gram Panchayat, Mehal Kalan and others, Respondents.
Spl. Leave Petn. (Civil) No. 7309 of 1986
Decided on 22-9-1986.
Mr. Harbans Lal, Sr. Advocate and Mr. G.K. Bansal, Advocate with him, for Petitioners.
Act
Referred
:CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE : O.1 R.8, S.9
PUNJAB VILLAGE COMMON LANDS REGULATION ACT : S.13
(A) The suit invoked the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961, specifically Sections 11, 13, and related provisions, which establish a statutory regime determining when land is shamlat deh and vesting rights in a Gram Panchayat. The trial court assumed jurisdiction to decide title, but the High Court held that once land is asserted to be shamlat deh and the Panchayat claims vested right, civil court jurisdiction is barred under Section 13. This petition under Article 136 challenges that exclusion, invoking the finality provisions in Section 12 and the claims-resolution mechanism in Section 11 read with the definition in Section 2(g). The amendments of 1976 replaced earlier provisions and reinforced the bar on judicial review of such determinations.
(B) Key principles: (i) Shamlat deh includes village common lands described in revenue records, used for community purposes; (ii) determinations on whether land is shamlat deh and vested in a Panchayat are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Collector under Section 11; (iii) orders of the Collector or Commissioner are final and cannot be challenged in any court under Section 12; (iv) civil courts have no jurisdiction under Section 13 to question title or legality of actions under the Act; (v) a suit maintaining title against a Panchayats shamlat deh claim is not maintainable in a civil court.
Facts of the case:
The plaintiffs, in a representative suit under Order I, Rule 8 of the Civil Procedure Code, sought a declaration that they were owners in possession of certain land, that the Gram Panchayat had no right in it, and that it had been wrongly shown as Panchayat land in revenue records. The Panchayat pleaded lack of jurisdiction, asserting that the land was shamlat deh and vested in it, triggering statutory bars. The trial court framed a preliminary issue on jurisdiction and held it had jurisdiction, finding the suit was about title and not solely about shamlat deh status. The High Court reversed, holding the issues were not triable by a civil court under Sections 11 and 13 of the Act, and dismissed the suit. This petition for special leave to appeal follows.
Issues:
Whether the civil court had jurisdiction to try a suit challenging title to land alleged to be shamlat deh vested in a Panchayat; whether the provisions of Sections 11, 12, and 13 of the Act oust the jurisdiction of civil courts in such cases; and whether a suit can maintain a claim of ownership when the land is sought to be held as shamlat deh by the Panchayat.
Ratio Decidendi:
Where land is asserted to be shamlat deh and the Panchayat claims vested right, the question of title necessarily becomes whether the land is shamlat deh and whether it has vested in the Panchayat, which are matters exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Collector under Section 11. Civil courts are barred under Section 13 from adjudicating such questions, and the finality of orders under Section 12 precludes any challenge in court. The plaintiffs avoided seeking a declaration that the land was not shamlat deh, but the suit necessarily required deciding that statutory question, rendering it non-maintainable.
Result:
The petition is dismissed.
(A) The suit invoked the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961, specifically Sections 11, 13, and related provisions, which establish a statutory regime determining when land is shamlat deh and vesting rights in a Gram Panchayat. The trial court assumed jurisdiction to decide title, but the High Court held that once land is asserted to be shamlat deh and the Panchayat claims vested right, civil court jurisdiction is barred under Section 13. This petition under Article 136 challenges that exclusion, invoking the finality provisions in Section 12 and the claims-resolution mechanism in Section 11 read with the definition in Section 2(g). The amendments of 1976 replaced earlier provisions and reinforced the bar on judicial review of such determinations.
(B) Key principles: (i) Shamlat deh includes village common lands described in revenue records, used for community purposes; (ii) determinations on whether land is shamlat deh and vested in a Panchayat are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Collector under Section 11; (iii) orders of the Collector or Commissioner are final and cannot be challenged in any court under Section 12; (iv) civil courts have no jurisdiction under Section 13 to question title or legality of actions under the Act; (v) a suit maintaining title against a Panchayats shamlat deh claim is not maintainable in a civil court.
Facts of the case:
The plaintiffs, in a representative suit under Order I, Rule 8 of the Civil Procedure Code, sought a declaration that they were owners in possession of certain land, that the Gram Panchayat had no right in it, and that it had been wrongly shown as Panchayat land in revenue records. The Panchayat pleaded lack of jurisdiction, asserting that the land was shamlat deh and vested in it, triggering statutory bars. The trial court framed a preliminary issue on jurisdiction and held it had jurisdiction, finding the suit was about title and not solely about shamlat deh status. The High Court reversed, holding the issues were not triable by a civil court under Sections 11 and 13 of the Act, and dismissed the suit. This petition for special leave to appeal follows.
Issues:
Whether the civil court had jurisdiction to try a suit challenging title to land alleged to be shamlat deh vested in a Panchayat; whether the provisions of Sections 11, 12, and 13 of the Act oust the jurisdiction of civil courts in such cases; and whether a suit can maintain a claim of ownership when the land is sought to be held as shamlat deh by the Panchayat.
Ratio Decidendi:
Where land is asserted to be shamlat deh and the Panchayat claims vested right, the question of title necessarily becomes whether the land is shamlat deh and whether it has vested in the Panchayat, which are matters exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Collector under Section 11. Civil courts are barred under Section 13 from adjudicating such questions, and the finality of orders under Section 12 precludes any challenge in court. The plaintiffs avoided seeking a declaration that the land was not shamlat deh, but the suit necessarily required deciding that statutory question, rendering it non-maintainable.
Result:
The petition is dismissed.
HARBANS LAL BAJAJ, O.K.BANSAL
JUDGMENT
E. S. VENKATARAMIAH, J. :— The petitioners were plaintiffs. They instituted a suit in a representative capacity under O. 1, R. 8 of the Civil P.C. in the Court of the Additional Senior Sub-Judge, Barnala for a declaration that they were the owners in possession of the suit land along with some others, that the Gram Panchayat, Mehal Kalan, Tehsil Barnala, District Sangrur in the State of Punjab (hereinafter referred to as the Panchayat) had no sort of right in the suit land and that the suit land had been wrongly shown as belonging to the Panchayat by the entries made in the revenue records which were not binding on the plaintiffs and for an injunction restraining the Panchayat from interfering their possession. The Panchayat in the course of its written statement inter alia pleaded that the court before which the suit had been instituted had no jurisdiction to try it by virtue of the provisions of S. 13 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (Punjab Act No. 18 of 1961) (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The trial court framed an issue relating to its jurisdiction and tried it as a preliminary issue. It held that since the question involved in the suit was simply one of title to the suit land and it was not necessary to decide whether the suit land was shamlat deh or not and whether the land had validly vested in the Panchayat or not being shamlat deh, it had jurisdiction to try the suit. Aggrieved by the said finding recorded by the trial court, the Panchayat filed a revision petition before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Civil Revision Petition No. 571 of 1986.* The learned Judge who heard the revision petition came to the conclusion that the issues involved in the suit were not triable by a civil court by virtue of S. 11 read with S. 13 of the Act and accordingly he held that the suit was not maintainable before the civil court. The plaintiffs have preferred this petition before this Court under Art. 136 of the Constitution of India requesting the Court to grant leave to prefer an appeal against the decision of the High Court.
* Reported in 1986 Pun LJ 307.
2. Section 2(g) of the Act defines the expression Shamlat deh as under :
"2(g) shamlat deh includes -
(1) lands described in the revenue records as shamlat deh excluding abadi deh;
(2) shamlat tikkas;
(3) lands described in the revenue records as shamlat, tarafs, patties, pannas and tholas and used according to revenue records for the benefit of the village community or a part thereof or for common purposes of the villages;
(4) lands used or reserved for the benefit of village community including streets, lanes, playgrounds, schools, drinking wells, or ponds within abadi deh or gorah deh; and
(5) lands in any village described as banjar qadim and used for common purposes of the village according to revenue records:
Provided that shamlat deh at least to the extent of twentyfive per centum of the total area of the village does not exist in the village ................."
3. The Act was amended by the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 1976. Section 7 of the above Amending Act substituted the original Ss. 11, 12 and 13 of the Act by new sections. After the amendment Ss. 11, 12 and 13 read as follows :
"11. Decision of claims of right, title or interest in shamlat deh.- (1) Any person claiming right, title or interest in any land vested or deemed to have been vested in a Panchayat under this Act, or claiming that any land has not so vested in a Panchayat, may submit to the Collector, within such time as may be prescribed, a statement of his claim in writing and signed and verified in the prescribed manner and the Collector shall have jurisdiction to decide such claim in such manner as may be prescribed.
(2) Any person or a Panchayat aggrieved by an order of the Collector made under sub-section (1) may, within sixty days from the date of the order, prefer an appeal to the Commissioner in such form and manner as may be prescribed and the Commissioner may after hearing the appeal, confirm, vary or reverse the order appealed from and may pass such order as he deems fit.
12. Finality of orders. - Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, every order made by the Collector or the Commissioner shall be final and shall not be called in question in any court by way of appeal or revision or in any original suit, application or execution proceedings.
13. Bar of jurisdiction of civil courts.- No civil court shall have jurisdiction -
(a) to entertain or adjudicate upon any question whether any property or any right to or interest in any property is or is not shamlat deh vested or deemed to have been vested in a Panchayat under this Act; or
(b) to question the legality of any action taken by the Commissioner or the Collector or the Panchayat under this Act; or
(c) in respect of any matter which the Commissioner or the Collector is empowered by or under this Act to determine"
4. Section 11 of the Act provides that any person claiming right, title or interest in any land vested or deemed to have been vested in a Panchayat under the Act, or claiming that any land has not so vested in a Panchayat, may submit to the Collector, within such time as may be prescribed, a statement of his claim in writing and signed and verified in the prescribed manner and that the Collector shall have jurisdiction to decide such claim in such manner as may be prescribed. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Collector is entitled to prefer an appeal to the Commissioner. Under S. 12 of the Act every order made by the Collector or by the Commissioner, as the case may be, is final save as otherwise expressly provided in the Act and such order cannot be called in question in any court by way of appeal or revision or in any original suit, application or execution proceedings. Section 13 of the Act provides that no civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain or adjudicate upon any question whether any property or any right to or any interest in any property is or is not shamlat deh vested or deemed to have been vested in a Panchayat under the Act or to question the legality of any action taken by the Commissioner or the Collector or the Panchayat under the Act or in respect of any matter which the Commissioner or the Collector is empowered by or under the Act to determine. The contention of the Panchayat before the trial court was that the land in question was shamlat deh and it had been vested in it.
5. It is no doubt true that the plaintiffs who claimed to be the owners along with some others of the suit land had avoided to seek a declaration that the suit land was not shamlat deh. They had, however, questioned the correctness of the entries in the revenue records which showed that the Panchayat was entitled to the suit land. The plaintiffs cannot by drawing their plaint cleverly by not claiming a declaration that the land in question was not shamlat deh confer jurisdiction on the civil court when by virtue of S. 13 of the Act the jurisdiction of civil courts to try such suits had been taken away. In the instant case the suit had been filed against the Panchayat and the Panchayat had expressly claimed that the land in question belonged to it as shamlat deh. It will not be possible in the circumstances for the civil court to make a declaration in favour of the plaintiffs without deciding the question whether the property in question was shamlat deh or not and whether it belonged to the Panchayat or not. Reliance was however placed by the learned counsel for the petitioners on a decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Bhagu v. Ram Sarup, 1985 Pun LJ 366 : (AIR 1985 Punj & Har 257) in which the suit had been held to be maintainable in a civil court even though the defendant had contended that the land involved in that suit was shamlat deh. The High Court found that the plaintiff in that case had only stated in the plaint that the land in question was Gali Sheh-re-aam or a thoroughfare belonging to the Gram Panchayat which was being used by the plaintiff as an approach to his house for about 30 years and had prayed for an injunction restraining the defendant from interfering with his right. The Gram Panchayat in question had not been impleaded as a defendant. The plaintiff in that case had not claimed that the suit land belonged to him or that it did not belong to the Gram Panchayat. The crucial issue which had been framed in that case was whether the land in question over which the plaintiff had asserted his right was a street or not and whether the defendant had blocked the said street. The High Court held in the circumstances of that suit that the jurisdiction of the civil court had not been taken away by virtue of S. 13 read with Ss. 13A and 13B of the Act which had been inserted by the Haryana Legislature into the Act. We are of the view that the above decision is clearly distinguishable from the present case since in this case the Panchayat which had been impleaded as a defendant had raised the plea that the suit land was a part of shamlat deh and that the plaintiffs had no right or title in it. This question has to be decided by the Collector only under S. 11 of the Act and not by the civil court. We do not, therefore, find any ground to interfere with the judgment of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana against which this petition is filed. The petition is dismissed.
Petition dismissed.
For Citation : AIR 1986 SC 2197
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