APPLICATION FOR PARTITION (TAQSEEM) OF A JOINT HOLDING
UNDER SECTION 111 OF THE PUNJAB LAND REVENUE ACT, 1887,
WITH MEMORANDUM OF ORAL (FAMILY) PARTITION
BEFORE THE Tehsildar, exercising the powers of an Assistant Collector First Grade,
TEHSIL Phillaur, DISTRICT Jalandhar, PUNJAB
IN THE MATTER OF: Khewat / Khatauni No. Khewat No. 112, Khatauni No. 148 of the Jamabandi for the year 2021-22 of Village Rurka Kalan, Hadbast No. 231, Tehsil Phillaur, District Jalandhar, Punjab;
AND IN THE MATTER OF: An application under sections 111 and 112 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 for partition of the said joint holding.
APPLICANT
Gurmeet Singh, son / daughter / wife of Sh. Jagtar Singh, resident of House No. 41, Ward No. 3, Village Rurka Kalan, Tehsil Phillaur, District Jalandhar, Punjab 144411, mobile +91 XXXXX XXXXX, email gurmeet.singh@example.com, recorded co-sharer to the extent of 1/4 share in the joint holding described in Schedule A below (the "Applicant").
OTHER RECORDED CO-SHARERS (RESPONDENTS)
- Sh. Balwinder Singh son of Sh. Jagtar Singh, resident of Village Rurka Kalan, Tehsil Phillaur, District Jalandhar — 1/4 share
- Sh. Sukhdev Singh son of Sh. Jagtar Singh, resident of Village Rurka Kalan, Tehsil Phillaur, District Jalandhar — 1/4 share
- Smt. Harbans Kaur widow of Sh. Jagtar Singh, resident of Village Rurka Kalan, Tehsil Phillaur, District Jalandhar — 1/4 share
The Applicant and the persons named above are together called the "Co-sharers".
RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:
- THE JOINT HOLDING
1.1 The Co-sharers are jointly recorded as owners of the land described in Schedule A, measuring 31 kanal 12 marla in the aggregate, being land Chahi (well-irrigated), situated in the revenue estate of Village Rurka Kalan, Hadbast No. 231, Tehsil Phillaur, District Jalandhar, Punjab (the "Joint Holding").
1.2 The shares of the Co-sharers are already entered in the annual record. A Fard / Nakal Jamabandi for the year 2021-22, issued on 1 April 2026, is filed with this application in proof, together with the aks shajra (tatima) of the khasra numbers listed in Schedule A.
1.3 By this application the Applicant does not ask the Revenue Officer to declare title. The Applicant is aware that under section 44 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 an entry in the record-of-rights or the annual record is presumed to be true only until the contrary is proved or a new entry is lawfully substituted; that under section 45 of that Act a person aggrieved by an entry must seek a declaratory decree, now under section 34 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963; and that a question of title arising in these proceedings falls to be dealt with under section 117 of the Act.
1.4 SHAMILAT. The ownership column of the jamabandi has been examined for an entry of shamilat deh — Jumla Malkan Wa Digar Haqdaran Arazi Hassab Rasad, Jumla Malkan or Mushtarka Malkan. Any such entry, and what follows from it, is stated in the paragraph immediately following this one. Where no such paragraph appears, the khewat carries no share in the shamilat deh.
A share in the shamilat deh is recorded against the khewat, entered in the ownership column as Jumla Malkan Wa Digar Haqdaran Arazi Hassab Rasad. That form of entry falls within the definition of shamilat deh in section 2(g) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961. A separate mutation fee is leviable on it when the partition is entered, under section 38(2) of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 and paragraph 7.33 of the Punjab Land Records Manual. The Applicant does not by this application raise any claim of right, title or interest in shamilat land which has vested in the Gram Panchayat under section 4 of the Act of 1961; such a claim lies to the Collector under section 11 of that Act, with an appeal to the Commissioner within sixty days, the civil court being barred by section 13.
- POSSESSION AND CULTIVATION
2.1 The whole of the joint holding is under the self-cultivation (khudkasht) of the recorded co-sharers.
2.2 The khasra girdawari of the Joint Holding stands as recorded by the Patwari of the halqa for the current and preceding harvests, and the Applicant relies upon those entries as to possession. The Applicant requests that the Patwari be directed to produce the girdawari for the last five harvests.
2.3 THE EARLIER ORAL (FAMILY) PARTITION, PLEADED AS A FACT. The Joint Holding was orally partitioned among the family on or about 2 April 2026, and the parcels have been held, possessed, cultivated and enjoyed by the respective Co-sharers separately and to the exclusion of one another for more than twenty-seven years, that is since the Rabi harvest of 1998. How that partition was made, and what each branch of the family took, was as follows. In the Rabi harvest of 1998, in the presence of the Lambardar and the elders of the biradari assembled at the village dharamshala, the late Sh. Jagtar Singh divided the joint holding among his three sons. Killa No. 12//5 was given to Gurmeet Singh, Killa No. 12//6 to Balwinder Singh and Killa No. 13//1 to Sukhdev Singh, while Killa No. 12//15 was kept by Sh. Jagtar Singh for himself and passed on his death in 2014 to his widow Smt. Harbans Kaur. Boundaries (vatt) were raised the same season and have stood since. No consideration passed and no writing was made at the time.
2.4 THAT SEPARATE POSSESSION, AND HOW IT CAN BE CHECKED AGAINST THE RECORD. The khasra girdawari has shown each of the four parcels under the separate cultivation of the respective co-sharer at every harvest since Rabi 1998. Separate PSPCL agricultural connections stand in the names of Gurmeet Singh (AP/JL/1147) and Balwinder Singh (AP/JL/1163). Crop loans from the Rurka Kalan Cooperative Agricultural Service Society Ltd. have been raised separately by each co-sharer against his own parcel since 2003. The boundaries raised in 1998 are visible on the aks shajra and can be verified by the Patwari of the halqa on the spot. The Applicant asks the Revenue Officer to read this account together with the khasra girdawari and to satisfy himself that the division now sought is the division which has already taken place on the ground. The Applicant states expressly that the partition recited above was made and acted upon long before this application, and that nothing in this application, or in any memorandum filed with it, divides the Joint Holding afresh.
- WHY PARTITION IS SOUGHT
3.1 Joint ownership of the Joint Holding has become inconvenient and unworkable. Each Co-sharer wishes his or her share to stand as a separate khewat in the jamabandi, so that it may be cultivated, improved, mortgaged, leased, sold or inherited without the concurrence of the others, and so that each may deal with a lender, a purchaser and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited in his or her own right.
3.2 It is the record that stands in the way. A bank will not lend against an undivided share in a joint khewat, a purchaser will not complete on one, and an heir cannot be shown the field that is his. Only a separate khewat cures that.
- THE FORUM, AND THE BASIS ON WHICH THIS APPLICATION IS TAKEN
4.1 Partition of land held jointly is a matter for a Revenue Officer under Chapter IX of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, and the jurisdiction of the civil courts over it is barred by section 158 of that Act, sub-section (2) of which excludes, among other matters, any claim for partition of an estate, holding or tenancy, any question connected with or arising out of proceedings for partition not being a question as to title, and the allotment of land on partition.