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| Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh |
Chandigarh, September 11, 2013: For rehabilitating landless original allottees or their legal heirs who suffered eviction after the expiry of their 20-year lease period, the Haryana assembly on Wednesday passed a bill to facilitate allotment of the said land on further lease.
The amendment in the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) Act would come as a relief to a number of Sikh families of Kaithal and Kurukshetra facing prospects of eviction.
It entails that landless original allottees or their legal heirs who remained in continuous cultivating possession till September 24, 1986, may be allotted the said land in shamlat deh on further lease by way of allotment for 99 years. This would be done after recovering user and occupation charges of the period for which they remained in possession even after expiry of lease period.
As per the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, several landless persons who needed to be rehabilitated were allotted uncultivable land under the East Punjab Utilisation of Lands Act, 1949, and the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1953.
"These lessees made the uncultivable land cultivable and arable with their hard work. After expiry of the lease period, these lessees remained in possession of the lands till September 1986 and were, thereafter, evicted at different point of time due to court orders," it said.
In 1986, the Supreme Court in one such case had observed that the government may allot another piece of land elsewhere to the petitioners considering their pitiable condition. However, the necessary rehabilitation measures could not be undertaken by the government at that point of time and the erstwhile lessees were rendered landless with no means of subsistence.
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Related Article:Haryana govt to extend land leases of migrant Sikh farmers
Sep 12, 2013 - CHANDIGARH: Haryana government on Wednesday announced extension of lease of agricultural land to 3,500 Sikh migrant families, allotted to them in 1953, in a bid to win the confidence of Sikh community in the state.
After the partition in 1947, landless migrant people from erstwhile Karnal district -- which was later bifurcated into Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts after creation of Haryana state out of Punjab in 1966 -- were allotted uncultivable land for a period of 20 years under East Punjab Utilization of Lands Act, 1949 and Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1953.
It was then decided to rehabilitate these landless persons, who had migrated from Pakistan and settled in Karnal, Kaithal and Kurukeshtra districts after partition. Allotted in 1953 by then chief minister of joint Punjab, Partap Singh Kairon, lease of these lands expired in 1973 and the families had been struggling to get ownership rights of their land.
According to the state government decision, lease of lands of migrant Sikh families has now been extended for a further period of 99 years. Making the announcement, chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the government will also urge Gujarat government to follow suit and rehabilitate Sikh farmers of Kutch region, who were facing eviction.
With a view to rehabilitate landless original allottees or their legal heirs, who remained in possession of the land up to September 24, 1986, the Haryana assembly on Wednesday passed a bill to make needed provisions in the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961.