At the back of his mind, Buta Singh Khullar knew that it was only a matter of time before someone in the administration dug up the order directing his family to vacate the land on which stood his and his three brothers’ homes. On June 26 this year, officials reached the Amupur village in Haryana’s Karnal district, earthmoving machines in tow, and demolished the ḥouses stating that they had been constructed illegally on the panchayat land.
As 72 year old Khullar stared at an uncertain future, Sikh bodies, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), announced that they will finance and help rebuild the houses at the same spot, sparking unrest in the village. After a gathering at the spot on July 12 attended by several religious leaders, the foundation stone was laid. Sources say the construction is likely to begin very soon even as the Karnal administration says it was keeping an eye on the developments.
The village sarpanch, Yudhveer Singh Rana (25), says he has a copy of the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s orders announced in 1994 directing eviction of Khullar’s family from the 16-acre shamlat land. However, Khullar and his brothers claim they had been living on the land since Independence. Before the 1994 HC order, they had claimed in a quasi-judicial court that they had been in “possession of the land for more than 20 years and had, thus, become owner, thereof”.
At the centre of the tussle are large tracts of government land that were leased to refugees from East Punjab after Partition. The leases are renewed annually, but with rising land prices, the settlers —who claim that they had received untillable land —are now seeking ownership rights. More than 10,000 families of such pattedars (lease holders) are living in 40 villages in Kaithal’s Guhla and Kurukshetra’s Pehowa. Haryana’s then chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in 2023 had announced that the state government was planning to enact a “new law” to give ownership rights to villagers who possess tracts of land meant for common use.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
