Gwal Pahari land row: Court slams Gurugram MC for misusing process of law

A Gurugram court recently came down heavily on the officials of municipal corporation (MC) for misusing the process of law, exceeding their jurisdiction to decide the question of title of land and pronouncing the title in its own favour.

The litigation pertained to deciding the question of title of 464.6 acres of Gwal Pahari between the private parties and the municipal body.

The chunk which remained mired in litigation for years triggered a storm in 2017 after an order of the then deputy commissioner, Gurgaon, declared that a mutation in favour of the municipal body was void ab initio (invalid from the beginning) in the eyes of the law.

The issue reverberated in the Haryana assembly, forcing a defensive chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to make a statement that a probe will be ordered into the matter.

Khattar’s remarks on ordering a probe were surprising since it was on his instructions that the deputy commissioner adjudicated the matter in his revenue court.

Setting the contentious issue to rest, at least for now, the civil judge (senior division), Gurgaon, Prashant Rana on April 16 decided the question of title in favour of private parties.

“The plaintiffs are declared to be owners in possession over their respective suit lands…. The eviction notices issued by the municipal corporation to the plaintiffs, and the mutation ( numbers 96, 3110 and 3249) are hereby declared to be illegal, null and void ab-initio, and are hereby set aside,’’ the order said.

The court order virtually vindicated the stance of the then Gurgaon DC TL Satyaprakash, who was asked by the state government to adjudicate the validity of a mutation and he subsequently ordered that the mutation in favour of the municipal corporation was invalid in the eyes of the law.

The DC ,however, did not comment on the title of the land.

‘Show-cause notice by MC illegal’

The court also slammed the municipal corporation officials, making stinging remarks on their functioning. “The show cause notice is not only illegal but mala fide and tainted as well. The notice was more in the nature of a decree of civil court, only which could have decided the question of title and the MC had no jurisdiction to pass such an order, deciding the question of title between the parties, when they themselves were a party,’’ the court said.