Punjab-Haryana High Court
Surjit Singh And Another vs State Of Punjab And Others on 4 December, 2012
Author: Hemant Gupta
Bench: Hemant Gupta, Rajiv Narain Raina
CWP No.10917 of 2011
-1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
CWP No.10917 of 2011
Date of Decision: 04.12.2012
Surjit Singh and another ..... Petitioners
Versus
State of Punjab and others ..... Respondents
CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV NARAIN RAINA
Present: Mr. Sukhraj Singh Brar, Advocate,
for the petitioners.
Mr. Amit Sethi, Addl. AG, Punjab,
for the respondent-State.
Mr. Paramjit Singh Brar, Advocate,
for respondent Nos.5 to 13.
1. To be referred to the Reporters or not?
2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?
HEMANT GUPTA, J.
Petitioner No.1 is owner of Khasra Nos.998, 1000 and 1002 whereas petitioner No.2 is owner of Khasra Nos.978, 979 and 980 of the land comprising in Village Ratti Rori, Tehsil & District Faridkot. Such land along with the other land was subject matter of acquisition for construction of Kameana Minor from RD 7600 to RD 37000 by notification dated 28.04.2011 under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short "the Act") followed by the notification under Section 6 of the Act on 23.05.2011 invoking urgency provisions.
The challenge to the said notifications is for the reason that the proposed Minor shall bifurcate their small holdings and that there is no dire urgency which may warrant dispensation of enquiry before publication of CWP No.10917 of 2011 -2- notification under Section 6 of the Act.
In the written statement, it is averred that the Kameana Minor will not bifurcate the land of the petitioners in any manner as it is being carried out at the boundary of the Village and that land owners of Villages Ratti Rori, Kameana, Qila Nau, Hariye Wala, Sukhan Wala and Dana Romana have given a joint representation for construction of Minor so as to obtain proper irrigation and for avoiding land becoming barren. Therefore, the Minor was proposed at the cost of Rs.6,30,07,960/- including compensation of Rs.20.50 lacs for building, tubewell, bore and kotha etc. It is also pointed out that alignment of the canal in the disputed land RD 10800 to 15854 of Kameana Minor is along with the common boundary of Village Kameana and Village Ratti Rori and that sanctioned length of Kameana Minor is 11.3 Km. out of which 9.5 Km. area has already been constructed and only 1.8 Km. is to be constructed that is the land in question.
Learned counsel for the petitioners referred to Annexure P-3 to contend that there is sanctioned watercourse reflected as yellow in the said site plan, therefore, there is no necessity of constructing another watercourse. The State disputed such stand and asserted that in fact the said watercourse is a private arrangement by the villagers whereas Minor is being constructed, parallel, to the said watercourse, on the request of the villagers during the course of hearing on 06.11.2012.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has referred a site plan (Annexure P-4) to contend that in fact there is already a watercourse in existence but, Mr. Amit Sethi, Addl. AG, Punjab for the respondent-State CWP No.10917 of 2011 -3- has produced a site plan which is mark as Annexure CX along with photographs (Annexures C-1 to C-4) . It is pointed out that Kameana Minor is being constructed on the boundary of Village Ratti Rori and Village Kameana. The portion of the Minor at RD 15866 has been constructed shown blue in the site plan and also the portion reflected in the yellow has been constructed. It is only the land falling in Khasra Nos.978 and 980 of the petitioners in which Minor remains to be constructed.
It is contended by learned counsel for the petitioners that if the alignment of the Minor can be changed to adjust landless labourers as in another Civil Writ Petition No.9964 of 2011 titled "Harjinder Singh & others Vs. State of Punjab & others" decided on 22.12.2011, the alignment should be changed in respect of the land of the petitioners as well.
We have heard learned counsel for the parties and find no merit in the present writ petition.
This Court has directed change of alignment to save the construction of 23 landless, Scheduled Caste and Minority Caste labourers, who were allotted land by Gram Panchayat. The order dated 22.12.2011 in the aforesaid writ petition directing the State to change alignment to Khasra Nos.450, 451, 452 and 453 of Village Kameana was with the objective that the houses of the landless labourers are protected. In the present case, the land of the petitioners is situated on the other side of the said watercourse within Village Ratti Rori and is purely agricultural land. Such land is situated on the boundary of Villages Ratti Rori and Kameana and, therefore, the construction of the Minor will not bifurcate the land of petitioners. A small watercourse in the Village Kameana is a private arrangement of the CWP No.10917 of 2011 -4- land owners of Village Kameana whereas the proposed Minor will provide irrigation facilities to the villagers of more than 4 villages. Therefore, the larger public interest shall be served by providing of such Minor.
In view of the said fact, we do not find any merit in the present writ petition.
Dismissed.
(HEMANT GUPTA) JUDGE (RAJIV NARAIN RAINA) 04.12.2012 JUDGE manju/vimal