Haryana revenue court invokes statute, stays transfer of land to 'Dholidars'

CHANDIGARH: A revenue court headed by a financial commissioner in Haryana on Thursday stayed transfer of panchayat and state government land to 'Dholidars' - normally brahmins who get death-bed religious gift of a small plot of land - observing that it violates the secular structure of the Constitution.
"Considering that the transfer of panchayat land to private persons entered as Dholidar violates the secular basic structure of the Constitution, the vesting of proprietary rights of lands owned by panchayat or municipality or any government entity to a Dholidar under Section 3 the Haryana Dholidar, Butimar, Bhondedar and Muqararidar (Vesting of Proprietary Rights) Act, 2010 is stayed throughout the state, till the issue is finally settled," the financial commissioner's court headed by senior bureaucrat Ashok Khemka ordered.
Khemka also referred the matter to the Haryana chief secretary to constitute a bench of not less than three financial commissioners to uphold, revise, or amend the determination of the issue.
He passed the order while taking suo motu cognizance of the statement made by deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala in the state assembly during the recently-concluded budget session that ownership of around 1,245 acres of panchayat land in the state had been transferred to Dholidars on the compensation of Rs 500 per acre.
The two-page order passed by Khemka added that his court, in a case titled "Mamo versus G P Budana," in Hisar district had held a Dholi tenure could not have been created by a gram panchayat on panchayat land, because a Dholi tenure would violate the secular character of state bodies and would be constitutionally impermissible. The judgment was uniformly applied in other cases.
LAND TO DHOLIDARS
‘Ratio of this court not being applied uniformly’
The statement by the deputy CM evidences that 1,245 acres of panchayat land has been vested with private persons on Dholi tenure. Hence, ex facie the ratio of this court is not being uniformly applied by the collectors and other revenue officers in the state,” observed Khemka while taking suo motu cognizance of the issue.
The financial commissioners are empowered to take suo motu cognizance of issues under the statute. The matter has now been fixed for May 18 for next hearing.
A ‘Dholi’ is defined in the Punjab settlement manual as death-bed religious gift of a small plot of land to a brahmin by land owners. On receiving the land, the Dholidar enjoys exclusive right to use that land and it is also inherited by his next generation.
In 2010, the Haryana government had introduced the Haryana Dholidar, Butimar, Bhondedar and Muqararidar (Vesting of Proprietary Rights) Act, 2010 which provided ownership rights for the land allotted as Dholi.
However, in September 2018, the Khattar-led BJP government proposed an amendment in the law providing that the Dholidars would not be able to get ownership rights of panchayat or state-owned land.
The Congress party, however, has been criticising the state’s move, claiming that it wants to take away the rights of ‘brahmins’ in Haryana. The matter was also taken up by the Congress during the recentlyconcluded budget session.