Ramgarh-829122 v. 1. The State of Jharkhand. 2. The Commissioner, North Chotanagpur Range, Hazaribagh, P.O., P.S
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P.(C) No.3416 of 2015 ------ M/s Dayal Steels Limited, represented through its director- Prabhu Dayal Bhartiya, Son of Late Mangi Lal Bhartiya, having its office at Ramgarh Cantt., P.O. and P.S. Ramgarh, District: Ramgarh-829122. … Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand. 2. The Commissioner, North Chotanagpur Range, Hazaribagh, P.O., P.S. and District: Hazaribagh. 3. The Deputy Commissioner, Ramgarh, P.O, P.S. and District: Ramgarh. 4. The Circle Officer, Ramgarh, P.O., P.S. and District: Ramgarh. … Respondents For the Petitioner For the Respondents
Legal Reasoning
------ : Mr. Ayush Aditya, Advocate Mr. Akash Deep, Advocate : Mr. Manoj Kumar, GA III ------ P R E S E N T HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY By the Court:- Heard the parties. 2. This Writ Petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with a prayer for quashing the Memo No.1376 dated 12.06.2015 issued by the Circle Officer, Ramgarh whereby and where under the application of the petitioner for issuance of rent receipt in relation to Khata No.59 area 17.40 acres, 11.55 acres and 4.30 acres has been rejected on the ground that the Deputy Commissioner vide letter No.969 dated 27.11.2013 and Commissioner vide letter No.368/Aa Go dated 02.04.2012 has directed for stoppage of issuance of rent receipt in relation to Gair Mazarua lands. 1 W.P.(C) No.3416 of 2015 3. The brief facts of the case is that the petitioner which is a firm, purchased the property in respect of which this Writ Petition has been filed from the original owner by three different sale-deeds. After purchase of the land, the land was duly mutated in the name of the petitioner and land receipts were issued in its favour. The Jamabandi was opened in the name of the petitioner. The Jamabandi has been verified and recognized by the Circle Officer and the S.D.O. Hariya Munda initiated a proceeding before the Additional Collector, Hazaribagh. In the said proceeding vide Misc. Case No.05 of 2002; it was ordered that the Jamabandi of the petitioner is correct and the Jamabandi of Hariya Munda was cancelled. Vide order dated 15.10.1999 in Misc. Case No.247/1999-2000, the name of the petitioner was allowed to be mutated. The name of the petitioner stands entered in the revenue record and receipts have already been issued to him. Since December, 2010, the Circle Officer has not issued rent receipts on the ground that there is a direction of the Deputy Commissioner not to issue any rent receipts in relation to Gair Mazarua lands and the land of the petitioner is a Gair Mazarua Land. The vendors of the petitioner were granted rent receipts of the land in question before selling of the land to the petitioner. Hence, it is submitted that the prayer as prayed for in this Writ Petition, be allowed. 4. Learned counsel for the respondents- State on the other hand vehemently opposes the prayer of the petitioner made in this Writ Petition and submits that the Jamabandi of the vendor of the petitioner was opened vide order of the Circle Officer, Ramgarh in Misc. Case No.35/1963-64 but Ramdhan Singh before selling of the land to the petitioner, mortgaged the 2 W.P.(C) No.3416 of 2015 property with Land Development Bank and as he could not repay the loan, a certificate case was instituted against Ramdhan Singh. The said mortgaged property was put to auction sale and Pawan Kumar Agarwal purchased the same. Vide Mutation Case No.455/95-96, Jamabandi was opened in the name of Pawan Kumar Agarwal in respect of 17.40 acres of land out of the total 28.95 acres and rest 11.55 acres of land was released by the bank in favour of Ramdhan Singh. The petitioner purchased 17.40 acres of land of plot No.1064 from Pawan Kumar Agarwal and 11.55 acres of said plot from the descendants of Ramdhan Singh and purchased 4.30 acres from one Ramlochan Singh. Rent receipt is not being issued to the petitioner but the petitioner failed to produce any document to prove his title. Hence, it is submitted that this Writ Petition, being without any merit, be dismissed. 5. Having heard the rival submissions made at the Bar and after carefully going through the materials available in the record, it is pertinent to mention here that it is a settled principle of law that entry in the revenue record do not create or extinguish any title and such entries are made basically for fiscal purpose. The undisputed fact remains that the land in question stands recorded in the name of the petitioner in the revenue record. There is no material in the record to suggest that any proceeding having been instituted against the petitioner for evicting him from the land in question. 6. Under such circumstances, this Court is of the considered view that the act of the respondent No.4 in not granting revenue receipt in respect of the land in question to the petitioner on the ground that the respondent No.3 has directed stoppage of grant of rent receipts, is not sustainable in law. 3 W.P.(C) No.3416 of 2015 7. Accordingly, the Memo No.1376 dated 12.06.2015 issued by the Circle Officer, Ramgarh whereby and where under the application of the petitioner for issuance of rent receipt in relation to Khata No.59 area 17.40 acres, 11.55 acres and 4.30 acres has been rejected on the ground that the Deputy Commissioner vide letter No.969 dated 27.11.2013 and Commissioner vide letter No.368/Aa Go dated 02.04.2012 has directed for stoppage of issuance of rent receipt in relation to Gair Mazarua lands, being not sustainable in law, is quashed and set aside. 8. 9.
Decision
In the result, this Writ Petition stands allowed. It is made clear that the grant of rent receipt will not confer any title of the land in question upon the petitioner and it will not debar the respondent- State from initiating any proceeding with respect to the land in question in accordance with law. 10. In view of disposal of the instant Writ Petition, Interlocutory Application No.5862 of 2023 for early hearing of this Writ Petition, stands disposed of being infructuous. (Anil Kumar Choudhary, J.) High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi Dated the 20th of June, 2024 AFR/ Animesh 4 W.P.(C) No.3416 of 2015