In Brief
The Supreme Court held that land originally recorded as public utility (pasture and threshing ground) cannot be converted to cultivable land through administrative re-categorization to grant private leases. A Sub-Divisional Officer in Uttar Pradesh unlawfully changed the land's category from Category-6 to Category-5, enabling lease grants to the appellant in 1992. During consolidation proceedings two decades later, the land's true public utility character was discovered. The Court ruled such re-categorization lacks statutory authority under the Land Records Manual and violates the Zamindari Abolition Act's Section 132, which protects public utility land from private appropriation. The leases were void from inception. Previous dismissals of cancellation applications on technical grounds did not prevent correction of records on merits, and consolidation proceedings cannot legitimize illegal titles.
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