In a judgment delivered after nearly 28 years of litigation, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday held that village common land recorded as “Jumla Mushtarka Malkan Hasab Rasad Khewat” in revenue records belongs to the proprietary body of the village and never vests in the gram panchayat or the municipal committee.

Justice Virinder Aggarwal pronounced the verdict on a 1997 regular second appeal and a connected writ petition arising from a civil suit filed in the early 1990s by proprietors of Khawaspur village (now in Hoshiarpur municipal limits) against the Hoshiarpur municipal committee.

The original plaintiff, Atma Ram, who died during the prolonged litigation, was represented through legal heirs. The landowners had sought a permanent injunction restraining the municipal committe

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