Madan Lal v. State Of Punjab And Others

writ in the nature of Mandamus for directing the official respondents to take appropriate steps for finalizing the mutation proceedings regarding inheritance to the Estate of Chawa Ram (grandfather of the petitioner) pertaining to his land situate at Village Dhani Shaffi, Tehsil Abohar, District Fazilka. 2.

Briefly, petitioner states that Shri Chawa Ram (grandfather of petitioner) held land in Village Dhani Shaffi, Tehsil Abohar, District Fazilka. Chawa Ram is stated to have two sons, namely Kheru Ram and Veeru Ram and petitioner is the son of Veeru Ram. It is stated that upon demise of Chawa Ram, Mutation No.20472 came to be entered by the revenue authorities, however, no final decision was rendered thereon. It appears that Kheru Ram (uncle of petitioner) got the FIR No.14 dated 13.03.1997, lodged at Police Station Vigilance Bureau, Ferozepur against one Gurnaib Singh, the then Patwari, on the allegations that he had demanded money for

sanctioning the mutation of inheritance regarding the Estate of his father Chawa Ram; and upon a raid being conducted, Gurnaib Singh, along with co-accused, was arrested and the Mutation Register was also recovered from him, which was taken into police possession as case property. 2.1 It appears that Gurnaib Singh, along with co-accused, was acquitted by the Special Judge, Ferozepur vide order dated 08.02.2007, against which, an appeal (CRA-S-1707-SB-2011) has been filed by the State of Punjab, which is stated to be pending before this Court. 2.

2 It is stated that since the relevant Mutation Register was the case property and the records thereof have been attached with the aforesaid criminal appeal filed by the State of Punjab, the petitioner's cousin Desraj son of Kheru Ram submitted an application before this Court for release of the original Mutation Register to the concerned authorities, wherein order dated 07.07.2023 was passed, which reads as under:- "This is an application for release of the original mutation register which was seized by the investigating officer at the time of arrest of accused. Applicant's father complained to the police of demand of gratification by the accused qua the recording of mutation. Due to seizure of the mutation register further implementation of the mutation could not be recorded in the revenue record/jamabandi.

Now, father of the applicant i.e. complainant has been expired and due to non-availability of original mutation, inheritance mutation could not be recorded in his name and prayed for the release of the original mutation register. For the reasons mentioned in the application, the same is disposed of with liberty to the applicant to approach the concerned authority for release of mutation register if the same is required by them.

against proper receipt and verification for a period of two months and the concerned authority shall return the same within a stipulated period."

2.3 It is submitted that the petitioner had submitted various representations before the revenue authorities for sanctioning of mutation pertaining to the Estate of Sh. Chawa Ram, however, no steps have been taken thereupon.

3.

7.

All pending application(s), if any, shall also stand closed.