Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
Jangir Singh & Ors. vs . State Of Rajasthan & Ors. on 12 March, 2015
Author: Sangeet Lodha
Bench: Sangeet Lodha
JANGIR SINGH & ORS. VS. STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS.
(S.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.2331/13)
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JANGIR SINGH & ORS. VS. STATE OF RAJASTHAN &
ORS.
(S.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.2331/13)
Dated:- 12.3.15.
HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SANGEET LODHA
Mr.N.R.Budania, for the petitioners.
Mr.S.M.Toshniwal, Additional Government Counsel.
1. This writ petition is directed against order dated 16.1.13 issued by the Executive Engineer, Division-I, Sri Vijaynagar, the respondent no.2 herein, whereby an application preferred by the petitioners for providing irrigation facility to their command land ad measuring 11 bighas comprising murabba no.184/457 in chak 6 AS, has been rejected on the ground that in the chak scheme of canal area development, the said land is shown to be uncommand land.
2. The relevant facts in nutshell are that the petitioners' father Niranjan Singh was allotted the land ad measuring 19 bighas 5 biswas comprising murabba no.184/457 in chak 6 AS vide allotment letter dated 27.11.75. Out of 19 bighas 5 biswas land, 11 bighas and 5 biswas was allotted as command land and the remaining 8 bighas and 5 biswas was uncommand land. The khatedari sanad of the land was issued in favour of the petitioners' father on 15.2.06 wherein also, 11 bighas and 5 biswas land was shown as command land. The petitioners' 11 JANGIR SINGH & ORS. VS. STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS.
(S.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.2331/13) 2 bighas 5 biswas land was extended irrigation facility, however, later the facility extended was discontinued. The representation made by the petitioners in this regard, stands rejected. Hence, this petition.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that the controversy involved in the present writ petition stands covered by a decision of this court rendered in the matter of 'Krishan Kumar vs. State of Rajasthan' (S.B.C.Writ Petition No.3967/08). Learned counsel submitted that the allotment of 11 bighas and 5 biswas land in favour of the petitioners' father was made by the authority concerned as command land, after charging the price as required to be paid for irrigated land and therefore, the same cannot be treated to be uncommand land by the irrigation authorities.
4. On the other hand, the counsel appearing for the respondents submitted that as per Rule 2 (vii) of the Rajasthan Colonisation (Indira Gandhi Canal Project Government Land Allotment and Sale) Rules, 1967, the 'command land' means land shown as such by the Irrigation Department in their command statement on any particular chak or canal and since the land held by the petitioners is not shown as 'command land' in the chak plan prepared by the Irrigation Department, the same cannot be extended irrigation facility. Learned counsel JANGIR SINGH & ORS. VS. STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS.
(S.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.2331/13) 3 submitted that the irrigation facility even to the command land can be refused on the grounds and circumstances specified under Rule 9 & 10 of Rajasthan Irrigation & Drainage Rules, 1955 (for short the "Rules") and therefore, the petitioners cannot claim the irrigation facility to their land as a matter of right.
5. I have considered the rival submissions of the learned counsels for the parties and perused the material on record.
6. It is to be noticed that in Krishan Kumar's case (supra), this court while adjudicating an identical controversy, held:
"8. Indisputably, the allotment of the land in question in favour of the petitioner's predecessor was made as command land by the competent authority after charging the price as required to be paid for irrigated land. It is also a common ground between the parties that the since the land allotted was command land, the irrigation facility was extended to it up to the year 1983. In this view of the matter, the irrigation authorities had no jurisdiction to consider the command land to be uncommand land on their own. As a matter of fact, while deciding the representation made by the petitioner, the respondent authority has proceeded with the presumption that the land in question is uncommand land and the same cannot be converted into command land inasmuch as the adequate water is not available in Anoopgarh Branch of the canal. In considered opinion of this Court, the petitioner's land which was command land when initially allotted could not have been treated to be uncommand land by the irrigation authorities. Thus, the respondent authority has committed an error in treating the land to be uncommand land.
9. The land held by the petitioner being command land the respondent authorities are under obligation to take appropriate steps to provide the irrigation facilities to the said land. The respondent authority has to consider the petitioner's demand for supply of the water in accordance JANGIR SINGH & ORS. VS. STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS.
(S.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.2331/13) 4 with the provisions of the Rajasthan Irrigation and Drainage Act, 1954 and the Rules made thereunder."
7. It is not even the case of the respondents that the petitioners have been refused irrigation facility invoking the provisions of Rule 9 or 10 of the Rules and therefore, the respondents cannot be permitted to support the order impugned invoking the said provisions.
8. Having considered the rival submissions, this court is of opinion that the controversy involved in the present writ petition stands covered by the decision of this court in Krishan Kumar's case (supra).
9. In the result, the writ petition is allowed. The order impugned passed by the respondent No.2, the Executive Engineer, Sri Vijaynagar, is quashed. The competent authority is directed to consider the application of the petitioners for supply of water to the land in question afresh, treating it to be command land, in accordance with the provisions of the Rajasthan Irrigation and Drainage Act, 1954 and the Rules made thereunder expeditiously, preferably within a period of two months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. No order as to costs.
(SANGEET LODHA),J.
Aditya/