Law: Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act (V of 1912)

Section: 10

Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act (V of 1912) S. 10-State land-Grant of lease-Grant of land claimed on ground of petitioner's name having been inserted in Jamabandi as a cultivator of land in dispute-Jamabandi in question not relied upon by petitioner in High Court-Presumption as to correctness of Jamabandi standing rebutted by evidence of forgery in relevant Khasra, Girdawari-Question of fact to be determined by competent authority: whether petitioner in cultivating possession of land as a tenant at a particular point of time-Such question to be answered more, appropriately by contemporaneous document, Khasra Girdawan Claim of petitioner for grant of land as actual cultivator in circumstances rightly rejected by lower Court and petition for leave to appeal liable to be dismissed. Date of hearing: 10th March, 1981.                                                                                                                  ORDER         FAKHRUDDIN G. EBRAHIM, J.-The facts giving rise to this petition are that on 24-4-1971 the petitioner was allotted the land in dispute under a fifteen years lease scheme. The eligibility for the grant of lease under this scheme was that the applicant was an actual cultivator of land during the harvests, namely Kharif 1969, to Kharif 1970. The grant in favour of the petitioner was cancelled by the Collector vide his order dated 23-6-1976 on the ground that the petitioner was not such a cultivator and the entry in the Khasra Girdawari showing him as cultivator had been manipulated by the revenue staff unlawfully and that the petitioner was, in fact, a Chaukidar working at Sikhanwali quarry. In appeal the Commissioner set aside the order on technical ground and remanded the case, but the Collector, on remand, maintained the cancellation of the grant made in favour of the petitioner. In further…