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Jagtar Singh & Ors. v. State of Uttarakhand & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 93Decided 2 Feb 2018
Civil Appeal No. 1497 of 2018
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Deepak Gupta

Background

Land earlier recorded in the name of one Teja Singh was, after his death, entered in the revenue record in favour of his daughter Harbhajan Kaur by a Supervisor Qanoongo on the basis that she was found in possession. Teja Singh's sons, Jagir Singh and Karnail Singh, objected under the U.P. Consolidation of Holdings Act, and after a series of appeals the Settlement Officer and Deputy Director of Consolidation directed that their names be recorded instead. The High Court held the Supervisor Qanoongo's original entry invalid for lack of public notice, but went further and ordered that neither party's name should continue in the revenue record, prompting Harbhajan Kaur's heirs (the appellants) to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court agreed that the Supervisor Qanoongo could not have validly recorded possession in favour of the appellants without giving public notice and notice to Teja Singh's legal heirs. However, it held that the High Court erred in going on to direct that the entries of both the appellants and the respondents be deleted altogether, since the real dispute was simply about which of the two sides was actually in possession of the land: that question could not be left undetermined. The Court set aside the High Court's direction removing both parties' entries and remanded the matter to the Supervisor Qanoongo to decide, after hearing both sides, who is in legal possession, and to make the appropriate revenue entry accordingly. The appeal was disposed of in these terms.

Lesson Learnt

A revenue/consolidation authority cannot resolve a possession dispute by simply erasing both competing parties' records: the authority remains obligated to actually determine, after notice and hearing, who is entitled to be shown as in possession.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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