Background 

In the case of Amar Singh v. Sanjeev Kumar, The petitioner had presented the Assistant Collector 2nd Grade with a petition for the division of land. The compliance affidavit submitted by the Assistant Collector noted the absence of records that had been ordered by the Appellate Revisional Court and were still present there at the time the matter was pending. 

Analysis of Court Decision 

Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan of the Punjab and Haryana single judge bench issued guidelines for service of notices, summons, and exchange of pleadings through WhatsApp, e-mail, and other electronic media in a contempt petition alleging non-compliance with an order directing the disposition of a partition application within six months, which has been pending for the past 19 years. He also instructed the authorities concerned to end the proceedings by serving summonses as soon as possible.

The Court additionally emphasised the fact that additional procedures have been ongoing since February 2023 and that the record was returned to it from the Appellate Court in December 2022. The Court also pointed out that despite several attempts, it was unable to serve the summons, which contributed to the delay. The Court noted that the High Court had ordered the summoning of the photocopy of the original record for identical issues to complete the Lower Court’s proceedings. It also referred to the Court’s Order from 21 December 2022, in which orders were granted to send Lower Court Records (LCRs) that were pending before the Court as soon as possible, preferably within two months. The Court also referred to identical directives that were explicitly stated in an order dated 10-4-2023. The Court believed that the only way to avoid concluding the partition procedures in the current case under the Punjab Land Revenue Act or initiating eviction proceedings was to wait for the original record to be filed with the Court of Original Jurisdiction and refrain from serving summonses on the parties.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court stated that the issuing of detailed instructions is required to prevent any wrongful disposition of the cases now before the Revenue Courts in which the objective of a party in possession of the land is to delay the proceedings. The case was scheduled by the court for hearing on April 10, 2023.