Allahabad High Court
Balak Ram vs State Of U.P. And 6 Others on 20 April, 2023
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 52 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 11077 of 2023 Petitioner :- Balak Ram Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 6 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Sushil Kumar Pal,Bal Mukund Singh,Chandra Bhan Gupta Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Ashish Kumar Singh,Mool Chandra Maurya Hon'ble Kshitij Shailendra,J.
1. Heard Sri Chandra Bhan Gupta, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondent and Sri Ashish Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 6 and 7.
2. This writ petition has been filed challenging the order dated 3.3.2023, whereby the Commissioner Aligarh Division, Aligarh has allowed the revision filed by the private-respondent under Section 210 U.P. Revenue Code-2006.
3. The contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is that the order impugned has been passed ignoring the provisions of Section 171 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 governing succession and that the private respondents are not entitled to get their names mutated in the revenue records.
4. Sri Ashish Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the respondents submits that the proceedings leading to passing of the order impugned were summary in nature and it is well settled proposition of law that a writ petition arising out of mutation proceedings is not maintainable, therefore this writ petition be dismissed as not maintainable.
5. Sri Chandra Bhan Gupta, learned counsel for the petitioner states that though the proceedings of mutation are summary in nature, the authorities have no jurisdiction to decide the title of the parties in such proceedings. Similar averment has been made in paragraph 31 of the writ petition.
6. It is well settled that mutation proceedings are summary in nature and they do not decide the rights and title of the parties and the revenue entries are maintained only for the purposes of payment of land revenue.
7. The question of the maintainability of a writ petition against orders passed in mutation proceedings has come up before this Court earlier and it has consistently been held that normally the High Court in exercise of its discretionary jurisdiction does not entertain writ petitions against such orders which arise out of summary proceedings. In the case of Jaipal Vs. Board of Revenue, U.P., Allahabad & Ors., Air 1957 ALL 205, notice was taken of the consistent practice of this Court not to interfere with the orders made by the Board of Revenue in cases in which the only question at issue was whether the name of the petitioner should be entered in the record of rights. The observations made in the judgment in this regard are as follows:-
"3. ...It has however been the consistent practice of this Court not to interfere with orders made by the Board of Revenue in cases in which the only question at issue is whether the name of the petitioner should be entered in the record of rights.
That record is primarily maintained for revenue purposes and an entry therein has reference only to possession. Such an entry does not ordinarily confer upon the person in whose favour it is made any title to the property in question..."
8. The question with regard to the maintainability of a writ petition arising out of mutation proceedings fell for consideration in the case of Sri Lal Bachan Vs. Board of Revenue, U.P., Lucknow & Ors.2 2002 (93) RD 6 and it was held that the High Court does not entertain a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the reason that mutation proceedings are only summarily drawn on the basis of possession and the parties have a right to get the title adjudicated by regular suit. The observations made in the judgment are extracted below:-
"11. This Court has consistently taken the view as is apparent from the decisions of this Court referred above that writ petition challenging the orders passed in mutation proceedings are not to be entertained. To my mind, apart from there being remedy of getting the title adjudicated in regular suit, there is one more reason for not entertaining such writ petition. The orders passed under Section 34 of the Act are only based on possession which do not determine the title of the parties. Even if this Court entertains the writ petition and decides the writ petition on merits, the orders passed in mutation proceedings will remain orders in summary proceedings and the orders passed in the proceedings will not finally determine the title of the parties."
9. Reiterating a similar view in the case of Bindeshwari Vs. Board of Revenue & Ors., 2002 (1) AWC 498, it was stated that mutation proceedings do not adjudicate the rights of parties and orders passed in the said proceedings are always subject to adjudication by the competent Court and therefore a writ petition against an order in mutation proceedings would not be entertainable. It was observed as follows:-
"11. ...The present writ petition arising out of the summary proceeding of mutation under Section 34 of U.P. Land Revenue Act, cannot be entertained under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The mutation proceedings do not adjudicate the rights of the parties and orders passed in the mutation are always subject to adjudication by the competent Court."
10. The settled legal position that orders of mutation are passed on the basis of possession and since no substantive rights of the parties are decided, ordinarily a writ petition would not be entertainable against such orders unless the same are found to be wholly without jurisdiction or have the effect of rendering findings which are contrary to title already decided by a competent court, was reiterated in the case of Vinod Kumar Rajbhar Vs. State of U.P. and others, 2021 (1) ADJ 792.
11. Taking note of the nature and scope of mutation proceedings which are summary in nature and also the fact that orders in such proceedings are passed on the basis of possession of the parties and no substantive rights are decided, this Court in Buddh Pal Singh Vs. State of U.P. & Ors. reported in 2012 (5) ADJ 266, restated the principle that ordinarily a writ petition in respect of orders passed in mutation proceedings is not maintainable. It was observed as follows:-
"7. It is equally settled that the orders for mutation are passed on the basis of the possession of the parties and since no substantive rights of the parties are decided in mutation proceedings, ordinarily a writ petition is not maintainable in respect of orders passed in mutation proceedings unless found to be totally without jurisdiction or contrary to the title already decided by the competent Court. The parties are always free to get their rights in respect of the disputed land adjudicated by competent Court."
12. The proposition that mutation entries in revenue records do not create or extinguish title over land nor such entries have any presumptive value on title has been restated in a recent decision in the case of Bhimabai Mahadeo Kambekar Vs. Arthur Import and Export Company & Ors. (2019) 3 SCC 191, placing reliance upon earlier decisions in Balwant Singh Vs. Daulat Singh (1997) 7 SCC 137 and Narasamma Vs. State of Karnataka (209) 5 SCC 591 . The observations made in the judgment are as follows:-
"6. This Court has consistently held that mutation of a land in the revenue records does not create or extinguish the title over such land nor has it any presumptive value on the title. It only enables the person in whose favour mutation is ordered to pay the land revenue in question. (See Sawarni v. Inder Kaur, Balwant Singh v. Daulat Singh and Narasamma v. State of Karnataka)."
13. Reference may also be had to the judgment in Faqruddin Vs. Tajuddin (2008) 8 SCC 12, wherein it was held that the revenue authorities cannot decide questions of title and that mutation takes place only for certain purposes. The observations made in this regard are as follows:-
''45. Revenue authorities of the State are concerned with revenue. Mutation takes place only for certain purposes. The statutory rules must be held to be operating in a limited sense... It is well-settled that an entry in the revenue records is not a document of title. Revenue authorities cannot decide a question of title.''
14. A similar observation was made in Narain Prasad Aggarwal Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2007) 11 SCC 736 wherein it was held as follows:-
''19. Record-of-right is not a document of title. Entries made therein in terms of Section 35 of the Evidence Act although are admissible as a relevant piece of evidence and although the same may also carry a presumption of correctness, but it is beyond any doubt or dispute that such a presumption is rebuttable...''
15. In Union of India and others Vs. Vasavi Cooperative Housing Society Limited & Ors.(2014) 2 SCC 269, the principle that entries in revenue records do not confer any title was reiterated and referring to the previous decisions in Corpn. Of the City of Banglore v. M. Papaiah, (1989) 3 SCC 612; Guru Amarjit Singh v. Rattan Chand (1993) 4 SCC 349 and H.P. v. Keshav Ram (1996) 11SCC 257, it was stated thus :-
:-
"21. This Court in several judgments has held that the revenue records do not confer title. In Corpn. Of the City of Bangalore v. M. Papaiah this Court held that: (SCC p. 615, para 5) ''5. ...It is firmly established that the revenue records are not documents of title, and the question of interpretation of a document not being a document of title is not a question of law.'' In Guru Amarjit Singh v. Rattan Chand this Court has held that: (SCC p. 352, para 2) '2. ...that entries in the Jamabandi are not proof of title.
'' In State of H.P. v. Keshav Ram this Court held that: (SCC p. 259, para 5) "'5. ...an entry in the revenue papers by no stretch of imagination can form the basis for declaration of title in favour of the plaintiffs.''
16. A similar view was taken in the case of Sawarni (Smt.) Vs. Inder Kaur (Smt.) and others, (1996) 6 SCC 223 and it was observed that the mutation of name in the revenue records does not have the effect of creating or extinguishing the title nor has any presumptive value on title and it only enables the person concerned to pay land revenue. It was stated thus :-
"7...Mutation of a property in the revenue record does not create or extinguish title nor has it any presumptive value on title. It only enables the person in whose favour mutation is ordered to pay the land revenue in question..."
17. The principle that an entry in revenue records is only for fiscal purpose and does not confer title on a person whose name appears in record-of-rights and title to the property can only be decided by a competent Civil Court was reiterated in the decision of Suraj Bhan and others Vs. Financial Commissioner and others (2007) 6 SCC 186 and it was stated as follows :-
"9...It is well settled that an entry in revenue records does not confer title on a person whose name appears in record-of-rights. It is settled law that entries in the revenue records or jamabandi have only "fiscal purpose" i.e. payment of land revenue, and no ownership is conferred on the basis of such entries. So far as title to the property is concerned, it can only be decided by a competent Civil Court..."
18. The legal position that entries in revenue records do not confer any title has been considered and discussed in a recent decisions of this Court in Harish Chandra Vs. Union of India & Ors., 2019 (5) ADJ 212 (DB) and Mahesh Kumar Juneja and another Vs. Additional Commissioner Judicial Moradabad Division and others, 2020 (3) ADJ 104 and it was restated that ordinarily orders passed by mutation courts are not to be interfered in writ jurisdiction as they are summary proceedings, and as such subject to a regular suit.
19. The settled legal position that an entry in revenue records does not confer title on a person whose name appears in record-of-rights and that such entries are only for "fiscal purpose" and no ownership is conferred on the basis thereof and further that the question of title of a property can only be decided by a competent Civil Court has again been restated in a recent decision of the Supreme Court in Jitendra Singh Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh and others, 2021 SCC OnLine SC 802; wherein after referring to the previous authorities on the point in Suraj Bhan Vs. Financial Commissioner, (2007) 6 SCC 186, Suman Verma Vs. Union of India, (2004) 12 SCC 58, Faqruddin Vs. Tajuddin (2008) 8 SCC 12, Rajinder Singh Vs. State of J & K, (2008) 9 SCC 368, Municipal Corporation, Aurangabad Vs. State of Maharashtra, (2015) 16 SCC 689, T Ravi Vs. B. Chinna Narasimha, (2017) 7 SCC 342, Bhimabai Mahadeo Kambekar Vs. Arthur Import & Export Co.(2019) 3 SCC 191; Prahlad Pradhar Vs. Sonu Kumhar, (2019) 10 SCC 259 and Ajit Kaur Vs. Darshan Singh (2019) 13 SCC 70, it was observed thus :-
"8. In the case of Suraj Bhan v. Financial Commissioner (2007) 6 SCC 186, it is observed and held by this Court that an entry in revenue records does not confer title on a person whose name appears in record-of-rights. Entries in the revenue records or jamabandi have only "fiscal purpose", i.e., payment of land revenue, and no ownership is conferred on the basis of such entries. It is further observed that so far as the title of the property is concerned, it can only be decided by a competent Civil Court. Similar view has been expressed in the cases of Suman Verma v. Union of India (2004) 12 SCC 58; Faqruddin v. Tajuddin (2008) 8 SCC 12; Rajinder Singh v. State of J&K, (2008) 9 SCC 368; Municipal Corporation v. State of Maharashtra, (2015) 16 SCC 689; T. Ravi v. B. Chinna Narasimha (2017) 7 SCC 342; Bhimabai Mahadeo Kambekar v. Arthur Import & Export Co. (2019) 3 SCC 191; Prahlad Pradhan v. Sonu Kumhar, (2019) 10 SCC 259; and Ajit Kaur v. Darshan Singh, (2019) 13 SCC 70."
20. The aforesaid propostion of law has recently been reiterated by this Court in the case of Smt. Kalawati v. Board of Revenue & Ors. reported in 2022 (4) ADJ 578. Similar view has been taken in another recent decision of this Court in the case of Alladin v. State of U.P. & Ors. reported in 2023 (3) ADJ 41.
21. This Court further finds that Section 39 of the U.P. Revenue Code, 2006 does not debar the parties from filing suit under section 144 of the Code for establishing their rights over the land and the said provision specifically states about the orders passed in mutation proceedings. The said section reads as under:-
"39. Certain orders of revenue officers not to debar a suit. -No order passed by a Revenue Inspector under section 33, or by a Tahsildar under sub-section (1) of Section 35 or by a Sub-Divisional Officer under sub-section (3) of section 38 or by a Commissioner under sub-Section (4) of Section 38 shall debar any person from establishing his rights to the land by means of a suit under section 144."
22. In view of the above, without interfering in the impugned order, this writ petition is disposed of with an observation that in case the petitioner wants to establish his rights over the land in question, he may institute a suit before the appropriate Court.
23. Learned counsel for the petitioner at this stage submits that since a finding has been recorded in the order impugned regarding possession of the petitioner, his possession may be protected by granting an injunction to this effect.
24. Learned counsel for the respondents however has placed a copy of the order dated 25.1.2021 passed by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Special Leave to Appeal (c) No. 5743 of 2020, which had also arisen out of mutation proceedings and a prayer was made before the Supreme Court to grant injunction. Under such circumstances, the Hon'ble Supreme Court observed that any such application for interim relief would have to be addressed before the competent court.
25. In view of the above, it is open for the petitioner to claim injunction in appropriate proceedings.
26. The order impugned shall remain subject to the decision in regular title proceedings.
27. The writ petition stands disposed off.
Order Date :- 20.4.2023/Faridul