RAGHAV OHRI
Posted:
Sep 01, 2012 at 0035 hrs IST
Chandigarh
Revenue/civil courts in Punjab to
function, transfer/sale of shamlat land can now take place
In
a significant development which may spell trouble for the land
grabbers and higher-ups who own illegal properties in the city’s
periphery and other areas of Punjab, the Supreme Court on Friday
refused to stay the probe to be carried out by a judicial tribunal.
The
tribunal was constituted on the directions, issued on May 30 this
year, of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Demanding a stay over the
setting up of a judicial tribunal, the Punjab government had moved
the Supreme Court. After detailed arguments, a division bench of the
apex court refused to stay the functioning of the tribunal, headed by
Justice (retd) Kuldip Singh, a former Supreme Court judge.
However, in an interim relief
for the Punjab government, the Supreme Court lifted the stay on the
functioning of revenue and civil courts in the state. Also,
transfer/sale/lease of shamlat land was allowed in the state. The
landowners, who had initially moved the High Court, were issued
notices by the apex court and granted three weeks’ time to respond
to the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the Punjab government.
It is the para number 16 of the High Court judgment which was stayed
by the apex court (see box).
The judicial tribunal will
begin its probe against the higher-ups, senior bureaucrats and IPS
officers accused of possessing properties in the city’s periphery.
The investigation report prepared by former Punjab additional
director general of police Chander Shekhar also included a list of
senior politicians, from SAD and Congress, who had unauthorisedly
possessed properties in Chandigarh’s periphery.
The Punjab government, in its
SLP, had stated that the High Court order had adversely affected the
transfer of common land in the state. So much so that some of the
government projects had also been affected.
The state said statutory
bodies like the revenue commissioners had stopped entertaining cases
and appeals after the High Court’s order, and it had put a complete
stay on registration of sale deeds regarding shamlat deh land.
As an immediate relief, the
Punjab government had demanded that the HC order should be stayed
immediately so that the revenue court and civil courts could
adjudicate disputes pertaining to transfer/sale and alienation of
common land.
©
2012 The Indian Express Limited. All rights reserved.
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