SC restores MCG’s rights to disputed land in Wazirabad, quashes 2007 HC verdict

Setting aside the 2007 Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict, the court said no valid partition occurred before 1950, allowing the land to vest with the MCG.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that over 274 acres (436 bighas and 18 biswas, according to the Haryana government) of disputed land in Wazirabad is shamlat deh (village common land) and restored its ownership to the Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG), setting aside a 2007 Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment that had recognised private ownership claims.

The bench said revenue entries naming co-sharers could not establish private ownership and rejected challenges to the 1955 mutation favouring the gram panchayat. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A bench of justice Sanjay Kumar and justice K. Vinod Chandran held that the disputed land was shamlat deh (village common land) governed by the Haryana Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961, and reaffirmed the September 13, 1955, mutation in favour of the Wazirabad gram panchayat, whose rights were subsequently inherited by the MCG following its formation in 2010.

In its 85-page judgement, the apex court observed that land has become the “new gold”, particularly in rapidly urbanising regions such as Gurugram, and cautioned against treating common village land as private property merely because revenue records carried the names of village pattis (co-sharers). The court ruled that the High Court had erred in accepting private ownership claims based solely on such revenue entries.

The dispute pertains to 436 bighas and 18 biswas of land in the abandoned village of Haiderpur, adjoining Wazirabad in present-day Gurugram. Claimants had argued that the land belonged to private parties and never vested with the gram panchayat. However, the Supreme Court held that while the original proprietors had a right to seek partition before January 26, 1950, no such partition had taken place. Consequently, the land continued to remain shamlat deh and vested in the gram panchayat under the 1961 Act. The bench also said the petitioners had failed to provide any valid legal basis to challenge the 1955 mutation.

The litigation traversed multiple judicial forums over nearly three decades. While revenue courts and the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ruled in favour of private claimants, the then commissioner held in 2005 that the land belonged to the gram panchayat. Challenging the High Court verdict, the Haryana government and the MCG approached the Supreme Court.

According to MCG officials, the corporation’s legal team, led by District Attorney Sumer Malhan, Assistant District Attorney Amit Malik, Tehsildar Harkesh Gupta, senior advocate and former judge Rajiv Bhalla, and Senior Additional Advocate General Lokesh Singhal, relied on original land records dating back to 1877 to establish that the land was village common property.

Officials said the corporation is now preparing to reclaim possession of the land. A drone survey will be conducted to demarcate the area, following which action will be initiated to remove encroachments and illegal structures.

Addressing the verdict, Gurugram mayor Raj Rani Malhotra called it a major victory against land encroachment. “For years, land mafias and illegal occupants have encroached upon valuable municipal land. Following the Supreme Court’s judgement, the Municipal Corporation will soon launch a major demolition drive to remove illegal structures from the 272-acre Wazirabad land. Our next objective is to secure another 272 acres of disputed land in Bajghera from encroachment,” she said.

According to a senior MCG official, more than 250 sale deeds were allegedly executed between 2003 and 2005 through fraudulent means during the gram panchayat period, with parcels of the disputed land being sold despite their status as common land.