Shamlat land row: Khattar for mutation of land in favour of panchayats, Hooda says no

However, in the Assembly, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda opposed the idea stating the mutations in the name of panchayats at this stage will cause problems and quarrels in the villages. In June this year, the state government had ordered immediate closure of all the ongoing cases/litigation pending in various revenue courts across the state or civil courts or even in the Punjab and Haryana High Court pertaining to “shamlat land”.

The orders have far-reaching consequences as thousands of acres of common land (shamlat-deh) in Haryana sold off by shareholders or gram panchayat for monetary gains would now get freed with the owners being ousted following a Supreme Court order. The shamlat-deh land is reserved and used for common purposes. Farmer bodies have already urged
the Haryana government to amend the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) Act, 1961, to give ownership rights to farmers who are cultivating shamlat-deh land (common land) for the past several decades. In the Assembly too, a section of Congress MLAs raised this issue while demanding the farmers be allowed to continue cultivating the land as they are dependent on the same for the past many years.