Punjab & Haryana High Court Orders Punjab Govt To Pay Rs 5 Lakh To Army Man’s Widow For Forcing Her To Approach Court In Land Allotment Case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday directed Punjab government to provide a compensation of Rs. 5 lakhs to a widow of a deceased soldier for not assigning any revenue rasta with promptitude for the land allotted to her in honour of the service of her deceased husband.

The division bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Kuldeep Tiwari observed:

“The consequence of no revenue rasta being assigned to the widow of deceased martyr, who laid his life fighting for the country, brings the ill consequence qua the said allotment being completely purposeless, as she became evidently disabled to enjoy the allotted land since the year 2009.”

The petitioner was allotted 10 acres of land on August 8, 1997 at village Khera Bet, Tehsil and District Ludhiana, for honouring the exhibition of gallantry of her deceased husband, who was in Army and lost his life "defending the borders of the country".

The possession of the allotted land to the petitioner was delivered to her on May 18, 2009. However, out of the 10 acres of land allotted to the petitioner, only symbolic possession was assignable to her of only of 8 acres, as the remaining 2 acres of land was under forest cover, the court noted. 

The petitioner approached the High Court through writ petition and in pursuance to the directions of the court, she was allotted land on September 13, 2011 in village Noorpur Bet and the requisite mutation was also attested in favour of the petitioner.

However, the petitioner was again made to approach the court as she was not assigned any revenue rasta for enabling her to fully utilize the land and for her becoming enabled to exercise her indefeasible easmentary rights despite directions being made on April 08, 2015, by the Director, Land Records, Punjab, to the Revenue Officer-cum-Consolidation Officer, Ludhiana.

The Counsel appearing for the State submitted before the Court that as of now a rasta has been allotted to the petitioner.

The court observed that but the allotment is belated, and, also is the result of the petitioner being led to access the court, "whereas, given the valiant services rendered to the nation by her husband, but required that the authorities concerned, taking prompt action for the relevant purpose, rather than theirs taking to be indolent, and, apathetic, to the requirement(s) of the present petitioner."

“The valiant services of able soldier of the Indian Army, who is the deceased martyr of the present petitioner, but required to be not dealt with gross apathy, and, indifference, rather required that the honour which is to be bestowed, upon his surviving family members, thus becomes bestowed with utmost promptitude besides with lack of indifference and apathy,” the ccourt said.

The court said that the petitioner was unnecessarily and repeatedly dragged into litigation and directed the State of Punjab to provide Rs. 5 lakhs to the petitioner as a compensatory measure "for the indolence and lethargy on the part of the officials concerned".

Case Title: Balwant Kaur v. State of Punjab & Ors.

Coram: Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Kuldeep Tiwari

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