Chandigarh, March 25– The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that Gram Panchayats have 12 years to enforce eviction orders under the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961, as per Article 136 of the Limitation Act. The verdict, delivered by a Division Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Vikas Suri, clarifies that the three-year limitation under Article 137 does not apply.
The ruling came while adjudicating a writ petition filed in 1999 and carries significant implications for Gram Panchayats across Punjab and Haryana, which often face resistance when executing eviction orders against illegal encroachers.
“The period of limitation for enforcing eviction orders under Section 7 of the Act is governed by Article 136, which prescribes 12 years for execution of decrees and possession orders,” the court stated. It rejected the Ambala Divisional Commissioner’s stance, which relied on Article 137 and declared an execution petition time-barred.
The court noted that eviction orders under the Act have the same legal force as decrees and should be treated accordingly. “Article 137 applies only to applications without a prescribed limitation, which is not the case here,” the Bench observed.
The judgment also dismissed the argument that the Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887, should guide the limitation period, stating that its provisions cannot be imported into the Punjab Village Common Lands Act, as the two statutes serve distinct legal purposes.
