The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation seeking a CBI probe into the Gwal Pahari land dispute and directed that all title related cases would be settled in civil court.
Ruling out any scam in the Gwal Pahari land, the High Court also protected the rights of land owners till the time the title was decided. The court said that there was status quo on possession, mutation and ordered that third party rights would not be created.
The controversy was kicked off after then Gurugram Deputy Commissioner T.L. Satyaprakash had passed an order earlier this year declaring as “illegal” the mutation of the land, a property under dispute between the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and a private firm. The decision was seen by many as “favouring” the private firm and the issue was raised by the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly.
Cancelling the mutation, Mr. Satyaprakash said: “Mutation was carried out in violation of orders of two Financial Commissioners of Revenue as well as the civil court. Hence this mutation no. 3249, its process and procedure are all void ab initio .” It further said that quashing the mutation on the basis of its legal validity “will neither change the possession nor alienate the land from the real ownership”.
