Panchayat Has No Authority To Decide Question Of Revenue Entries As It Lies In Domain Of Revenue Authority Of State Of Rajasthan: High Court

Justice Vineet Kumar Mathur, observed,

"Thus, the revenue entries in the name of petitioner as stand today creates no doubt with respect to the title of the land in question. It is also noted that the Panchayat has no authority to decide the question of the revenue entries as the same lies in the domain of the revenue authority of the State of Rajasthan."

Essentially, the Gram Panchayat, Mandar passed an interim order refusing to grant permission for raising construction of a building. The interim order was passed in the application preferred by the petitioner being the Khatedar owners of the land located in Gram Mandar. It was stated in the interim order that the petitioner may submit the documents to show how the land was converted from "Mafi Dharmada Po Bharayi Panch Mahajan Khatedar" to "Panch Mahajanan Khatedar".

Thereafter, Additional District Collector, Sirohi rejected the Revision Petition on the ground that the land for which the petitioner has sought permission to construct a community hall and other buildings is a Public Utility Land and ruled that the impugned interim order was just and proper. The present writ petition has been filed against the order passed by Additional District Collector, Sirohi.

In the present case, the court, while allowing the petition and setting aside the order of Additional District Collector as well as interim order of Gram Panchayat, observed,

"The subject matter of the dispute between the petitioner and the respondent is only with respect to the grant of permission for construction of building and, therefore, the respondent- Panchayat was not vested with the powers to raise the question or decide the same about the revenue entries and the title of the subject piece of land. The respondent - Gram Panchayat is well within their right to grant or not to grant the permission within the framework of the provisions of law."

The court directed the respondent-Gram Panchayat to consider the application for raising construction submitted by the petitioner afresh within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of the application in accordance with law as per the existing revenue records placed before them.

In addition to this, the court clarified that any construction activities undertaken by the petitioner will be subject to the outcome of the proceedings pending before the revenue authorities and the Board of Revenue. If the revenue suits are decided against the petitioner, the construction raised on the subject piece of land shall be used for the larger public interest of the villagers, added the court.

It was pursued by the court that the last entry as per revenue record is in the name of Panch Mahajan Khatedar and, therefore, the court opined that as per the revenue authorities, the petitioner is the person who is holding the right title and ownership of the subject piece of land.

The court noted that an application preferred by certain villagers under Section 136 of the Land Revenue Act, 1956 was rejected against which an appeal has been preferred and the proceedings are pending at the appellate stage. Further proceedings with respect to the conversion order dated 15.09.2014 is also pending before the Board of Revenue, Ajmer.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that as per the revenue entries, the subject piece of land is shown to be in the name of Panch Mahajan Khatedar and, therefore, there is no question to dispute the title of the land at this stage. He further submitted that the Panchayat Authorities have no right as per law to question the title of the land which is in the favour of the petitioner. He, therefore, prayed that the permission sought for from the Gram Panchayat should be decided independently without taking into consideration the fact of conversion of revenue entries in the name of Panch Mahajan Khatedar.

The counsel for the respondents submitted that the land is a Public Utility Land and, therefore, the Gram Panchayat has rightly asked for the documents by which entries of the land were changed to the Panch Mahajan, and, therefore, the interim order passed by the Gram Panchayat was just, proper and correct and the order passed by the Additional District Collector rejecting the revision petition does not warrant any interference by this Court.

Adv. B. S. Sandhu and Adv. Shreyansh Mardia appeared on behalf of the petitioner while Sr. Adv. J. L. Purohit assisted by Adv. Shashank Joshi and Adv. Kuldeep Singh Solanki for Adv. Manish Pate appeared on behalf of the respondents.

Case Title: Shri Mandar Jain Sangh, Mandar, Through Its Trustee Bhanwarlal Doshi v. Gram Panchayat, Mandar, Through Its Sarpanch, TehsilReodar, District Sirohi & Anr.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 133

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