LAW FOR ALL

for quashing the criminal proceedings launched by respondent no. 1 under Section 3(1)(viii) of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act 1989’). = that the land on which both parties claim title/interest had initially been allotted to one Anant Ram, a member of the Schedule Caste community, under the 20 Point Programme of the Government of India (Poverty Elevation Programme) and he sold it to one Ram Lal Aggarwal in the year 1989, who further transferred it to his son Anil Kumar Aggarwal in the year 1990. Anil Kumar Aggarwal sold the same to appellant Ravinder Singh in the year 2005. Respondent No. 1, who at the relevant time was holding a very high position in the Central Government, claimed that initial transfer by Anant Ram, the original allottee, in favour of Ram Lal Aggarwal was illegal and he could not transfer the land allotted to him by the Government under Poverty Elevation Programme and further that as the said land had been encroached upon by his father, he had a right to get his name entered in the revenue record. Thus, it is clear that the respondent no. 1, became the law unto himself and assumed the jurisdiction to decide the legal dispute himself to which he himself had been a party being the son of a rank trespasser. Transfer by the original allottee at initial stage, even if illegal, would not confer any right in favour of the respondent no.1. Thus, he adopted intimidatory tactics by resorting to revenue as well as criminal proceedings against the appellant without realising that even if the initial transfer by the original allottee Anant Ram was illegal, the land may revert back to the Government, and not to him merely because his father had encroached upon the same. In view of the above, the judgment of the High Court impugned herein dated 14.12.2011 as well as of the Revisional Court is set aside. Order of the Metropolitan Magistrate dated 13.8.2009 is restored. The complaint filed by respondent no.1 under the provisions of Section 3(1)(viii) of the Act 1989 is hereby quashed. The appeal is thus allowed. Before parting with the case, it may be necessary to observe that any of the observations made herein shall not affect by any means either of the parties in any civil/revenue case pending before an appropriate authority/court.