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Joginder and Another v. State of Haryana and Others

Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2021 INSC 62Decided 5 Feb 2021
Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 1829 of 2021
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

Two residents of a village in Haryana had built houses on land belonging to the Gram Panchayat without authorisation. They applied to have their occupation regularised and the land sold to them under Rule 12(4) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964, which allows a panchayat to sell encroached non-cultivable land to pre-2000 occupants, but only up to a combined area (construction plus open/appurtenant space) of 200 square yards. The Deputy Commissioner found their actual occupied areas (757.37 and 239.48 square yards) far exceeded this cap and rejected the applications, and the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld that rejection.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court rejected the petitioners' argument that the 200-square-yard cap applied only to the "constructed" portion and not to the open/appurtenant space, holding that Rule 12(4) caps the total illegally occupied area, construction plus open space, at 200 square yards. Since both petitioners' total occupation exceeded that limit, their claim for regularisation could not succeed. The Court also relied on its earlier landmark ruling in Jagpal Singh v. State of Punjab (2011), which held that illegal encroachments on common village land must generally be evicted and restored to the Gram Panchayat rather than regularised, regardless of how long the construction has stood. The special leave petition was accordingly dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

Encroaching on village common (panchayat/Gram Sabha) land cannot be regularised merely because a structure has stood for years or because local sentiment favours it: statutory area caps are read strictly and cover the whole occupied footprint, not just the building itself, and courts strongly disfavour legitimising illegal possession of community land.

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

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