Tuesday, June 19, 2012

HC decides in favour of villagers

Sets aside panchayat order, disallows upcoming DAV University to use village common land

Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 9
In a major setback to the management of the upcoming DAV University on Pathankot Road, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has set aside an order of the Sarmastpur village panchayat by disallowing the university to include a village common land as a part of its campus.

The DAV College Management Committee had managed to exchange 4 kanal 17 marla from the gram panchayat for setting up DAV University in lieu of another land nearby measuring 6 kanals through orders dated September 21, 2011. Five petitions were filed against the orders wherein residents claimed that they had been using the village land (khasra no. 342 and 193) as paths to their fields and the decision had deprived them access to their land.

The university authorities had also offered to provide the panchayat with another passage which would be metalled and all expenses were to be borne by the university. Besides, the university authorities also offered fee concession to the poor and disabled persons of Sarmastpur and adjoining villages, admission on priority and jobs to residents.

However, the court found that Section 5 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act 1961 had not been fully complied with during the exchange of land. The section reads: “A panchayat, if it is of opinion that it is necessary so to do for the benefit of the inhabitants of the village, may with the prior approval of the government transfer any land in shamilat deh by exchange with the land of an equivalent (value)”. The court said that the resolution and other supporting material must reveal that the exchange was ‘necessary’ for the benefit of the inhabitants.

The judgment reads that the exchange rather was necessary for DAV University as the village path through the campus was rather perceived as a difficulty and interruption for the authorities themselves. “A necessity of the university cannot be said to be a necessity of inhabitants of the village,” it is mentioned.

Even as the counsel for the university pointed towards the benefits of getting two kanals in excess, metalled road, preferential admission, fee concession and jobs, the judges contended that these did not did not fulfil the criteria of necessity as set out in the 1964 rules.

“If submissions made by counsel are accepted, it would lead to all sorts of unscrupulous elements offering extra land to the gram panchayat and divesting it of its prime property. The fact that the university may have raised construction over the land of the paths cannot be a reason enough to reject the petition. We allow the petition and set aside panchayat order. We, however, grant an opportunity to the government to reconsider the matter and determine whether the exchange is necessary for the benefit of villagers. The needful be done within a month of receipt of copy,” the judgment reads.

The case
The DAV College Management Committee had managed to exchange 4 kanal 17 marla from the gram panchayat for setting up DAV University in lieu of another land nearby measuring 6 kanals through orders dated September 21, 2011. Five petitions were filed against the orders wherein residents claimed that they had been using the village land (khasra no. 342 and 193) as paths to their fields and the decision had deprived them access to their land.


Copyright: The Tribune Trust, 2007

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