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Judgment
Heard Mr. K K Mahanta, learned Senior counsel assisted by Mr. K Singha, learned counsel for the applicants/writ petitioners. Also heard Mr. D Nath, learned Senior Government Advocate, Assam for the opposite parties/respondent Nos. 3 to 6.
Applicants/petitioners are the residents of Village - Saikiapara, Godhiapara and Bezpara in the District of Darrang, Assam.
It is contended by the applicants that since the days of their predecessors-in-interest, they are residents of aforesaid three villages and also the possessors of Government land of Dag No. 22 at Village - Gerimari Chapori, Block Nos. 1 and 2, Sheet No. 1 of Rongamati Mouza in the District of Darrang. According to the applicants/petitioners, their predecessors were allotted 310 Bighas of Government land of said Dag No. 22 in Block Nos. 1 & 2 for collective/community farming and since long they are in possession of the same cultivating over it.
In the connected WP(C) No. 1144/2022, the applicants stated that in November, 2021, when they found that respondent authorities started measuring their said land and on being enquired, they were informed that said land will be acquired by the Government for the proposed Skill City Project. On 15.11.2021, they approached the Deputy Commissioner, Darrang and submitted a representation before him stating that the Revenue authorities of the District in the year 1949 allotted 310 Bighas of Government land of Dag No. 22 at Village - Gerimari Chapori, Block Nos. 1 and 2, Sheet No. 1 of Rongamati Mouza to their predecessors-in-interest for co-operative cultivation and since then they are possessing and enjoying the said land by paying land revenue to the authority concerned till the year 2015. By the said representation dated 15.11.2021, the applicants also prayed before the Deputy Commissioner, Darrang to grant them patta in respect of said land as they are possessing the same since the days of their predecessors-in-interest.
Apprehending their dispossession from the said land, the applicants as petitioners filed the connected WP(C) No. 1144/2022 on 14.02.2022 praying amongst others for a direction to the respondents therein to issue patta in respect of the said land, more particularly, described in the schedules mentioned therein as they are the lawful land holders, settlement holders and possessors of the land specified therein and also to set aside and quash the allotment order/orders issued by the respondent authorities allotting their said land illegally in favour of the opposite party/respondent No. 6 for the project of Skill City along with interim prayer not to disturb their peaceful possession over the said land. Said WP(C) No. 1144/2022 was moved on 21.02.2022 and the Court on the said date directed the Opposite parties/respondents to place the relevant instructions in the matter, fixing it on 28.02.2022. On 28.02.2022, the Deputy Commissioner, Darrang as well as the Circle Officer, Mangaldai placed the relevant written instructions dated 25.02.2022 in the matter (Annexure-B to this application). Considering the same, the Court by order dated 28.02.2022 issued notice to the respondents made it returnable by 23.03.2022, enabling them to file their affidavit in the matter and considering the said written instructions of the Deputy Commissioner, Darrang and the Circle Officer, Mangaldai Revenue Circle, the Court did not pass any interim order in the matter.
On 23.03.2022, the Government Advocate, Assam prayed for a weeks’ time to file its affidavit which was allowed and thereafter, the Deputy Commissioner, Darrang filed its affidavit in the matter on 01.04.2022, serving copies of the same on the counsel for the writ petitioners on the same date itself.
The applicants/writ petitioners in this application have prayed for direction to restrain the respondent authorities from disturbing their peaceful possession over the said land involved in the case and further, to restrain them from doing any activities over the said land of the applicants/petitioners till disposal of said writ petition. The applicants have annexed certain photographs in this application to show that machineries have been used to fill up of earths on certain land and construction of a katcha road on some vacant land, which the applicants are claiming to be their said land.
In this regard, the applicants have also placed before the Court that on 21.01.1970, the Assistant Settlement Officer, Mangaldai Revenue Circle issued public notice informing that from 23.01.1970 re-settlement operation (measurement of land, correction of map and chitha, mutation, partition, change of class of land, etc.) with regard to the land of Village - Gerimara Chapori, Mouza-Rongamati would commence and all the concerned were informed to assist the concerned in-charge Mandal to show their respective land for the purpose of mutation, partition and rayotery rights with regard to said land.
The applicants from their said writ petition have also placed before the Court that in a Revenue Appeal Case No. 50/1963-1964 filed by one Dharmaram, son of Late Nanda, group leader of Saikiapara Group Block for self and on behalf of 24 other members of the said group, resident of Saikiapara, Dhula, Mangaldai that they were allotted Chapori land in the year 1947 and that they spent Rs.1275/- in re-claiming the land with the help of tractors to make it cultivable where they cultivated over it various types of crops paying Government revenue regularly but the Sub-Divisional Officer on 09.05.1963 cancelled the said allotment without their knowledge and without calling for their explanation. In said Revenue Appeal Case No. 50/1963-1964, said Dharmaram and 24 others challenged the said cancellation of allotment dated 09.05.1963 by the concerned SDO as well as his letter No.V-19/65/710 dated 07.07.1965 by which the said authority informed about the said cancellation. The applicants/writ petitioners placed before the Court the copy of the order dated 04.11.1965 by which the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Darrang allowed the said revenue appeal holding that said cancellation was illegal and against the basic principles of justice as it was passed without giving any prior intimation/information before such cancellation.
It is also placed before the Court that the applicant from 1970 till the year 2015 regularly paid the revenue for the said land to the Government and thereafter the respondent authorities stop collecting such revenues from the applicants/ petitioners. The applicants have also placed the revenue receipts paid by the petitioners for the said land annexed to the connected writ petition.
Though, the applicants/writ petitioners placed before the Court that allotment order for the said land was earlier cancelled by the concerned SDO on 09.05.1963, that was communicated on 06.05.1964, which was set aside in the Revenue Appeal Case No. 50/1963-1964 by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Darrang on 04.11.1965, but the copy of the said order dated 04.11.1965 passed by the ADC, Darrang, annexed to the connected WP(C) No. 1144/2022 does not reflect that it relates to any such Government land of Dag No. 22 of Village-Gerimari Chapori of Rongamati Mouza of District-Darrang.
Applicants have also not annexed any such cancellation order dated 09.05.1963 as well as the communication dated 06.05.1964 both issued by the SDO, Darrang as reflected in the said order dated 04.11.1965 of the ADC, Darrang to place before the Court that it relates to said Government land of Dag No. 22 of Village-Gerimari Chapori of Rongamati Mouza of District-Darrang.
From the perusal of the revenue receipts annexed to the connected WP(C) No. 1144/2022, some of it reflects that it is a Government Eksania land of Gerimari VGR and Touzi receipts, but does not state about the land of said Dag No. 22. Some of the revenue receipts reflect that it is a Gerimari Grazing land and those receipts relate to Be-dakhali Jorimona (fine towards encroachment of grazing land) etc.
It is seen that as on date applicants/petitioners could not place anything before the Court that they or their predecessors-in-interest were allotted 310 Bighas of Government land of Dag No. 22 of Village-Gerimari Chapori of Rongamati Mouza of District-Darrang by the respondent authorities for community farming, which the petitioners are claiming that they are in possession of the same by cultivating over it from the days of their predecessors in interest since such allotment in the year 1949.
From the affidavit filed in the connected WP(C) No. 1144/2022 by the Deputy Commissioner, Darrang annexed to this application as Annexure-E, it is seen that the land of said Dag No. 22 of Village-Gerimari Chapori of Rongamati Mouza of District-Darrang is Government VGR (Village Grazing Reserve) Land and 100 Bighas of said Government VGR land of Dag No. 22 have been de-reserved by the Government and thereafter, the same was allotted to the Assam Skill Development Mission, Skill Development Department, District-Darrang. Added with said 100 Bighas of Government VGR land of Dag No. 22 after its de-reservation, another 150 Bighas of Government land of Dag Nos. 28 to 36, 165 to 182 and 201 to 213 of Village-Gerimari Chapori of Rongamati Mouza of District-Darrang in terms of the proposal dated 11.12.2020 of the Sub-Divisional Level Advisory Committee, Darrang, Mangaldai have been allotted in favour of the Assam Skill Development Mission, Skill Development Department, District-Darrang and in that process, pursuant to the communication No. ECF.53336/2018/106 dated 31.07.2021 of the State Government and the order of the Deputy Commissioner, Darrang under No. DRS.89/2017/165 dated 11.09.2020, all together 250 Bighas of Government land including said 100 Bighas Government VGR land of Dag No. 22 of Village-Gerimari Chapari, Mouza-Rangapara, District-Darrang have been handed over by the Circle Officer, Mangaldai Revenue Circle, Mangaldai vide No. MRC:30/2002/649 dated 15.11.2021 to the District Project Manager, Assam Skill Development Mission, Darrang on 15.11.2021.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Jagpal Singh and Ors. Vs. State of Punjab and Ors. reported in (2011) 11 SCC 396 have held that – Government Reserve Land should be used only for common use of the public and illegal encroachers / unauthorized occupants etc. should be evicted from such land and that long duration of occupation on such land in such manner or huge expenditure in making construction thereon or political connection must not be treated as a justification for condoning such illegal act or for regularizing the illegal possession and that regularization should only be permitted in exceptional cases e.g. where lease has been granted under some Government Notification to landless labourers or members of Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribes, or where there is already a school, dispensary or other public utility on the land.
Moreover, in a catena of decisions, this Court have held that for such Government Village Grazing Reserve Land periodic Patta cannot be issued to the individual concerned and periodic patta on such Government VGR Land, after proper de-reservation, can only be given for the public institution/utility concerned.
It is not the case of the applicants/petitioners that said Government land of Dag No. 22 of Village-Gerimari Chapori of Rongamati Mouza of District-Darrang is not Village Grazing Reserve Land.
The applicants/petitioners have not made any claim relating to 150 Bighas of Government Land of Dag Nos. 28 to 36, 165 to 182 and 201 to 230 of Village-Gerimari Chapori, Rongamati Mouza of Mangaldai Revenue Circle in the District of Darrang.
For the reasons above, the Court is not inclined to pass any such order as prayed for by the applicants in respect of 100 Bighas of Government VGR Land of Dag No. 22 of Village-Gerimari Chapori of Rongamati Mouza of District-Darrang, which have already been allotted and possession of which has also been handed over on 15.11.2021 to the Assam Skill Development Mission, Skill Development Department, District-Darrang.
Accordingly, this Interlocutory application stands rejected.