The Supreme Court has delivered a significant blow to the Haryana Government by overturning its April 2022 ruling, which had mandated the return of village common lands to local governing bodies (gram panchayats).
Previously, on April 7, 2022, the Supreme Court had decreed that when land was acquired from proprietors within their legal ceiling limits under a Punjab law, only the management and control, not outright ownership, would be transferred to the panchayat.
This “management and control” encompassed various uses beneficial to the entire village community, such as leasing the land and allowing its use by non-proprietors, including members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
However, in a recent development, a bench consisting of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, and Justice K.V. Viswanathan granted a review petition of its own judgment, effectively nullifying the 2022 verdict.
In doing so, the Supreme Court has affirmed a 2003 full Bench decision by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This earlier ruling asserted that any land not specifically designated for common village uses during consolidation processes would rightfully belong to the original proprietors, rather than the panchayat or the state government.
“We discern no error in the High Court’s full Bench judgment, particularly its application of the doctrine of stare decisis in this case, as it adhered to principles consistently applied across over 100 previous judgments. Consequently, we find no merit in the State’s appeal, which is hereby dismissed,” stated Chief Justice Gavai, pronouncing the decision on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.
In their detailed 51-page judgment, the Chief Justice referenced the findings of the 2022 verdict, which had previously endorsed the 1992 amendment to the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961.
The earlier ruling had stipulated that all land set aside for common purposes through a pro-rata reduction from individual holdings must be exclusively used by the gram panchayat to meet both current and future needs of the village community. It further dictated that no portion of this land could be re-divided among the proprietors.
As a direct consequence of this, the previous verdict had mandated the restitution of these village common lands to the gram panchayats.
However, the current Bench, led by the Chief Justice, having approved the review petition, has now nullified these specific findings.
Affirming the High Court’s decision, the Bench declared, “We find no hesitation in concluding that the challenged judgment and final order of the High Court’s full Bench contained no error… specifically, lands not explicitly designated for any particular purpose do not legally vest with the gram panchayat or the State.” The 2022 judgment stemmed from a series of appeals challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s full Bench ruling, which had scrutinized the legal standing of sub-section 6 of Section 2(g) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961.
The Bench had further clarified in its earlier statement that for land acquired from proprietors through a pro-rata reduction within their allowable ceiling limits, only the management and control would vest with the panchayat. This vesting of management and control was deemed irreversible, meaning the land would not revert to the proprietors for redistribution, as the common purposes for which the land was designated were understood to cover both current and future needs of the community.