125 years after Haryana farmer mortgaged 1.6 acres for Rs 90, his family to get it back

ONE HUNDRED and twenty five years after their ancestors mortgaged it, and five years after they initiated a legal battle, a family in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district is set to get the possession of 1.6 acres of land.

The land was mortgaged in June 1899 for Rs 90.

Senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka, under his quasi-judicial powers, has ordered that the land be handed over to the successors of the original land owner before June 30 this year. The nine successors of the original landowner are from two neighbouring villages — Majri Kalan and Thol in Ismailabad sub-tehsil of Kurukshetra.

In this case, a farmer Biru had mortgaged half of his share of land to the family of one Prabhu on June 17, 1899. As per the mortgage deed, the earning from the land would discharge the interest on the loan and the revenue payable to the then government. No time limit was prescribed in the deed to redeem the property.

While the debt was Rs 90, the land revenue payable was Rs 2 and 9 annas in the year 1900. Further, there was no stipulation of the rate of interest in the mortgage deed.

In the court of Khemka, the successors of the original land owner, through their counsel, said that the possession of the land has been with the mortgagees for the past 125 years and that they have been enjoying the surplus collections without rendition of accounts.

In the order pronounced on April 4, Khemka — a 1991-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officer — noted that the mortgagees have been enjoying the cultivating possession of the land spread over 1.6 acres (13 kanal and 2 marlas) against the loan advanced. “There has been no rendition of accounts by the mortgagees showing the surplus profits and the application of the same against the principal debtamount,” read the order.

“Whilst the principal debtamount could not grow, the earning from the land would have grown astronomically over the period of the past 125 years. The current lease rental of the mortgaged land of (1.6 acres) in the area is estimated at Rs 80,000-90,000 a year,” Khemka observed in the order.

Khemka also quoted a legislation introduced by Sir Chhotu Ram in 1938 (The Punjab Restitution of Mortgaged Lands Act, 1938).“It must be kept in mind that the 1938 Act is a beneficial agrarian legislation for restitution of possession of mortgaged land to the landowners and providing relief to farmers from usurious moneylending practices,” mentioned Khemka.

Following the legislation introduced by Sir Chhotu Ram, farmers were required only to submit an application to the district collector to seek restoration of their mortgaged land.

In the instant case too, the successors of the original land owner (Biru) filed a petition in October 2018 before Collector (Pehowa SDM) for restitution of possession of their land. Two residents of a neighbouring village — Gurmit Singh and Harkesh who had bought half of the mortgaged land (6 kanal and 11 marlas) — from the mortgagees at the cost of Rs 7,000 in 1986, opposed the plea.

The Collector gave a verdict in favour of the original land owner's family and ordered restitution of the mortgaged land.

Gurmit and Harkesh then moved a plea with Ambala divisional commissioner. When they did not get any relief, the duo filed a petition in the court of Khemka. Through their counsel, they argued that the mortgage deed was not annexed by the successors of the original land owner. But Khemka said that the deed is presumed to be in the possession of the mortgagees.