Supreme Court of India Judgment on Village Common Land in Case of Jagpal Singh & Ors vrs. State of Punjab & Ors. (Civil Appeal No.1132 /2011 @ SLP(C) No.3109/ 2011 | Land Portal

Resource information

Date of publication: 
January 2011
Resource Language: 
Pages: 
12
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Supreme Court of India, New Delhi

This is a judgment of Supreme Court of India to check grabbing of village common land including ponds and water bodies (called in different names) by unscrupulous persons, political clout, powerful vested interests, corrupt state authorities, etc by fraudulent practices and ensure their protection and safeguard. The Court has directed all the State Governments/Union Territories for eviction of illegal/ unauthorized occupants of Gram Sabha/Gram Panchayat land or Shamlat or common land by whatever name called and restore them for the common use of villagers of the village after giving a show cause notice and a brief hearing. It also said that long duration illegal occupation and making huge expenditure in constructions shall not be justification for regularizing such illegal possession. However, in exceptional cases regularization is permitted where lease granted under some Government notification to landless labourers or members of Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes, or where there is already a school, dispensary or other public utility on the land.

Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Supreme Court of India,
Judgement by Hon. Justice Markandey Katju 
Hon. Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra

Publisher(s): 
India Governmental Seal

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the world's oldest, flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture.

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