SPA/410/2021
2021 Latest Caselaw 5340 UK

    IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
               AT NAINITAL

                    SRI JUSTICE S.K. MISHRA, A.C.J.
                                AND
                     SRI JUSTICE N.S. DHANIK, J.

27TH DECEMBER, 2021

SPECIAL APPEAL No. 410 OF 2021

Between:

Smt. Pushpa Adwani and others.

...Appellants and

State of Uttarakhand and others.

...Respondent

Counsel for the appellant. : Mr. Arvind Vashistha, the learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Vivek Pathak, the learned counsel.

Counsel for the respondent nos. 1, : Mr. J.C. Pande, the learned Standing 3, 4 and 5. Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand.

Upon hearing the Learned Counsel, the Court made the following

JUDGMENT : (per Sri S.K. Mishra, A.C.J.)

In this Intra-Court appeal, the appellants-writ

petitioners have assailed the judgment passed by the

learned Single Judge in Writ Petition (M/S) No. 548 of

2021 dated 09.09.2021, whereby the Writ Petition of the

appellants-writ petitioners was dismissed. It is brought

to our notice that the appellants-writ petitioners have

prayed for quashing of the notification dated 11.02.2021 issued by the Revenue Department, State of

Uttarakhand, Annexure No. 9, whereby the record and

survey operations, under the Uttar Pradesh Land

Revenue Act, 1901 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"),

was brought to an end.

2. It is the case of the appellants-writ petitioners

that their application/objection is pending before the

Assistant Record Officer. Therefore, it is submitted that

closure of the record and survey operations will cause

prejudice to him.

3. The learned Single Judge has taken into

consideration the provision of Section 105 of the Act.

Section 105 of the Act reads as follows :-

"105. Applications and proceedings pending before Record or Settlement Officer when operations are closed.-When the record or settlement operations are closed by notification under Section 48 or Section 59, all applications and proceedings then pending before the Record or Settlement Officer shall be transferred to the Collector, who shall have the powers of a Record or Settlement Officer for the disposal thereof."

4. It is apparent from the aforesaid provision

that even after closure of the survey and record

operations, the pending applications, disputes and

appeals shall be considered by the competent Revenue

Court, to which the cases are transferred. Hence, the

learned Single Judge dismissed the Writ Petition.

5. However, bringing to the notice of this Court

the provision of Section 57 of the Act, the learned Senior

Counsel for the appellants-writ petitioners would argue

that in case the record and survey operations is brought

to an end, then a presumption would be drawn against

them, and that would cause prejudice to them.

However, it is appropriate to take note of Section 57 of

the Act, which reads as under :-

"57. Presumption as to entries. - All entries in the record-of-rights prepared in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter shall be presumed to be true until the contrary is proved; and all decisions under this Chapter in cases of dispute shall, subject to the provisions of sub-section (3) of Section 40, be binding on all Revenue Courts in respect of the subject-matter of such disputes; but no such entry or decision shall affect the right of any person to claim and establish in the Civil Court any interest in land which requires to be recorded in the registers prescribed by Section 32."

6. A plain reading of the aforesaid provision

clearly reveals that any entry made in the record-of-

rights prepared in accordance with the provisions of this

Chapter shall be presumed to be true until the contrary

is proved. However, this provision will not be applicable

to any pending proceedings in which any particular

records or entries have been challenged consequent

upon closure of the survey and records operation is

transferred under Section 105 of the Act.

7. Hence, we are not inclined to admit this

Special Appeal. But, we further observe that any title,

record of rights, or records (relating to objections of the

appellants) in the revenue records shall not be

presumed to be genuine and correct under Section 57 of

the Act till the pending application/objection of the

appellants-writ petitioners is decided by the competent

Revenue Court.

8. With the aforesaid observations, the Special

Appeal is, hereby, disposed of.

9. Urgent certified copy of this judgment be

granted to the parties on proper application.

________________ S.K. MISHRA, A.C.J.

_____________ N.S. DHANIK, J.

Dt: 27th December, 2021 Rahul