SC reverses 2022 verdict on Haryana Village Commons, restores land rights to proprietors

New Delhi: In a jolt to the Haryana government, the Supreme Court has set aside its April 2022 decision which had directed that the village common lands be returned to gram panchayats.

The top court on April 7, 2022 had also held that in respect of the land taken from the proprietors from their permissible ceiling limits under a Punjab law, it is the management and control alone which would vest with the panchayat and not the title.

It had said the management and control include leasing of land and use of the land by non-proprietors, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, etc. which is for the benefit of the village community.

Allowing the plea seeking review of its own judgement, a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Viswanathan set aside the 2022 verdict.

The top court upheld a 2003 full bench ruling of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had held that land not earmarked for common purposes during consolidation would vest with proprietors, not the panchayat or the state.

“We find no error in the judgment of the full bench of the high court in applying the doctrine of stare decisis to the facts of the present case inasmuch as it followed the law which was consistently applied in more than 100 judgments. In the result we find no merit in the appeal of the State. The same is accordingly dismissed,” the CJI held while dismissing the appeal of Haryana on Tuesday.

Writing a 51-page judgement, the CJI referred to the findings of the 2022 verdict which had upheld the validity of the 1992 amendment made in the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961.

It was held that the “entire land reserved for common purposes by applying pro rata cut had to be utilised by the gram panchayat for the present and future needs of the village community and that no part of the land can be re-partitioned amongst the proprietors”.

Consequently, the earlier verdict had directed the return of village commons to gram panchayats.

The CJI-led bench, which had allowed the review plea earlier, set aside these findings.

Upholding the high court’s verdict, the bench said, “We have therefore no hesitation in holding that no error could be noticed in the impugned judgment and final order of the full bench of the high court… lands which have not been earmarked for any specific purpose do not vest in the gram panchayat or the State.” The 2022 verdict was delivered on a batch of appeals against the full bench verdict of Punjab and Haryana High Court which examined the legality of sub-section 6 of Section 2(g) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961.

“It is pertinent to note here that for the land taken from the proprietors by applying pro-rata cut from the permissible ceiling limits of the proprietors, management, and control alone vests with the panchayat but such vesting of management and control is irreversible and the land would not revert to the proprietors for redistribution as the common purposes for which land has been carved out not only include the present requirements but the future requirements as well”, the bench had said.