The Supreme Court has delivered a significant setback to the Haryana government by overturning its April 2022 directive, which mandated the return of village common lands to local self-governing bodies (gram panchayats).
Previously, on April 7, 2022, the apex court had ruled that while gram panchayats would hold the management and control of common lands acquired from proprietors’ ceiling limits under a specific Punjab law, the actual ownership (title) would not transfer to them.
This management and control, as defined then, encompassed the leasing of land and its use by various community members, including non-proprietors, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes, all intended for the collective benefit of the village.
However, a review petition against this judgment was granted. A bench consisting of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and K.V. Viswanathan subsequently overturned the 2022 decision.
Crucially, the Supreme Court has now affirmed a 2003 full Bench ruling by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This earlier ruling established that any land not specifically designated for common village use during land consolidation would remain with its original proprietors, rather than being transferred to the panchayat or the State.
“We find no flaw in the High Court’s full bench judgment, particularly in its adherence to the doctrine of stare decisis, given that it consistently followed established legal precedents across over 100 judgments. Consequently, the State’s appeal lacks merit and is hereby dismissed,” stated the Chief Justice, on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, during the dismissal of Haryana’s plea.
In a detailed 51-page judgment, the Chief Justice referenced the findings of the 2022 verdict, which had previously affirmed the legality of a 1992 amendment to the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961.
That previous ruling had declared that “all land set aside for common purposes through a proportionate reduction (pro rata cut) must be used by the gram panchayat for both current and future needs of the village community, and no portion of this land can be re-divided among the original proprietors.”
As a direct outcome of that earlier decision, directives were issued for the return of these village common lands to the gram panchayats.
Now, the bench led by the Chief Justice, having approved the review petition, has invalidated these specific findings.
Reaffirming the High Court’s earlier ruling, the Bench declared, “We therefore find no fault with the challenged judgment and final order of the High Court’s full bench… specifically, lands not explicitly designated for any particular purpose do not legally belong to the gram panchayat or the State.” The original 2022 verdict had stemmed from a series of appeals challenging the High Court’s full bench decision, which scrutinized the legality of sub-section 6 of Section 2(g) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961.
The Bench had previously noted that “for land acquired from proprietors through a proportionate reduction from their maximum allowable holdings, only the management and control would transfer to the panchayat. This transfer of management and control is permanent, and the land would not be returned to the proprietors for redistribution, as the common purposes for which such land was designated encompass both current and future village needs.”