Chandigarh, June 9 -- Terminating the mutations of about 810 acres of prime Panchkula land sanctioned in the name of private owners, the court of the Ambala divisional commissioner has ordered that the entire chunk spread over seven villages be mutated in the name of the Haryana government. Ambala divisional commissioner Sanjeev Verma, who heard an executive revision plea filed by Asha Singh of Dehradun, one of the heirs of the original owner of the estate, Sardar Bhagwant Singh, also ordered collector, agrarian, Panchkula, to decide the entire matter afresh after giving opportunity of hearing to all parties within two months. Mutation in revenue administration means recording the transfer of title of a property from one entity to another in revenue records. It is a process of recording the transfer of ownership of property in revenue records in the event of sale, partition, court decree and inheritance. The case traces its origins to surplus land proceedings initiated against the estate of late Sardar Bhagwant Singh, a big landlord who owned 1,396 acres across seven villages of the present day Panchkula district, more than six decades ago. The dispute landholding comprises parcels situated in seven villages - Bir Firozari or Beed Ferozadi, Barwala, Sangrana, Jalouli, Bir Babupur, Bhareli and Fatehpur Viran While Bhagwant Singh died in 1960 leaving behind seven legal heirs, proceedings to determine the surplus land under the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953, were initiated against his estate and have remained pending for over six decades. The Ambala divisional commissioner in his May 26 order said that the surplus case was decided more than once but was time and again remanded back by higher revenue authorities. As a result, the surplus proceedings have not been finalised as the matter is pending before various courts. "Lastly vide order dated March 31, 2020, the collector, agrarian, Panchkula, has decided the surplus case and allotted 30 standard acre land to each legal heir of Sardar Bhagwant Singh. It was clearly mentioned in this order that no relief can be granted to the persons who purchased the land after 1958," the divisional commissioner's order said. The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on February 24, 2023, had directed the collector, agrarian, Panchkula, to redetermine the surplus area within a year by applying the law relating to determination of surplus land. Following the HC order, the appellant approached the financial commissioner, revenue, on March 14, 2023, seeking corrections in the names of Sardar Bhagwant Singh and his legal heirs in the revenue records with respect to 1,396 acres in seven villages before compliance of HC's February 24, 2023, order. The process was initiated. However, on January 4, 2024, the collector, agrarian, ordered the withdrawal of his orders and directed reversal of any changes that might have been made in revenue records. This withdrawal order became the subject matter of the appeal before the Ambala divisional commissioner with the appellant contending that the January 4, 2024, order passed by the collector, agrarian, on the direction of Panchkula deputy commissioner, was illegal and arbitrary and liable to be set aside. The court of divisional commissioner held that it is clear that the surplus land case is to be decided treating the entire land to be of Sardar Bhagwant Singh who passed away on October 30, 1960, whereas the Punjab Security of Land Tenure Act came into force with effect from April 15, 1953. The divisional commissioner said of Singh's total landholding, 583 acres, 3 kanals and 16 marlas had already been mutated in favour of the state government, while the remaining 810 acres, 5 kanals and 7 marlas, presently recorded in the names of private owners, must also be transferred to the state. "As such the entire land vests in state government in terms of section 12(3) of the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holding Act 1972, therefore, mutations of land that had been got sanctioned in the name of private owners measuring 810 acre, 5 kanals and 7 marlas are hereby ordered to be cancelled," the divisional commissioner wrote while remanded back the case to collector, agrarian, Panchkula to have a fresh look....