Views: Pardeep Kumar Rapria -There is a need to save the Village Common Land from the Government also

Friday, June 24, 2011

These days everybody is concerned about land acquisition of individuals by the Government. In fact, there is a need to save the village common land/gram sabha land/gram panchayat land in Haryana from the politically motivated laws and rules passed by the State Government of Haryana. The Hon’ble Court Supreme Court in Jagpal Singh & ors. Vs. State of Punjab, in Civil Appeal No.1132 of 2011, observed that “Since time immemorial there have been common lands inhering in the village communities in India, variously called gram sabha landr gram panchayat land. These public utility lands in the villages were for centuries used for the common benefit of the villagers of the village such as ponds for various purposes e.g. for their cattle to drink and bathe, for storing their harvested grain, as grazing ground for the cattle, threshing floor, maidan for playing by children, carnivals, circuses, ramlila, cart stands, water bodies, passages, cremation ground or graveyards, etc. These lands stood vested through local laws in the State, which handed over their management to Gram Sabhas/Gram Panchayats. They were generally treated as inalienable in order that their status as community land be preserved.

” What we have witnessed since Independence, however, is that in large parts of the country this common village land has been grabbed by unscrupulous persons using muscle power, money power or political clout, and in many States now there is not an inch of such land left for the common use of the people of the village, though it may exist on paper. 

However, apart from the unauthorized encroachers, the State Government of Haryana, by amending the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961 (applicable to Haryana State) and framing rules under the Act, is also bent upon the finish the village common land, by allowing the gift, sale, lease etc. of village common land and by legalizing illegal occupation of village common land. If the village common land is allowed to be disposed of by the way of sale, gift, and lease or by legalizing the illegal encroachment, it will lead to vanishing of village common land for future generations, due to political considerations and motives. Therefore, the village common land is not only required to be saved from the clutches of the unauthorized encroachers but also from the arbitrary laws and Rules of the State Government.

http://justiceplatform-rapria.blogspot.com/2011/06/there-is-need-to-save-village-common.html

Justice Platform' strives the provide justice to people in several ways. It also strives to create awareness about current issues. Justice Platform is headed by Mr. Pardeep Kumar Rapria a practicing lawyer in Supreme Court of India.