Amit Kumar Yadav … … … … v. The State of Jharkhand and others
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P. (PIL) No. 5077 of 2013 Amit Kumar Yadav … … … … … Petitioner Versus The State of Jharkhand and others ... ... ... Respondents ------ CORAM: HON'BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. CHANDRASHEKHAR For the Petitioner: ----- M/s. S.L. Barnwal, V.K. Prasad, Shiv prasad, Ram Sewak Prasad
Legal Reasoning
For the Respondents: Mr. R. Shankar, G.A. 14/Dated: September, 17, 2013 ------ Per D.N. Patel, A.C.J. 1) Counsel for the petitioner submitted that for the following reliefs this Public Interest Litigation has been preferred: - a) To issue rent receipts to the inhabitants of Barkattha Chatti or the persons who are in possession of the lands on both sides of Grand Trunk Road at Village Barkattha; and b) If National Highway Authority of India starts for extension of width of the road and the houses and shops are demolished or the vacant lands are taken away, adequate compensation be paid to the owners of the land. 2) It is submitted on behalf of the petitioner that there are several persons who are owners of the lands in question as stated in the Memo of Petition and the Government is not issuing rent receipts to them and, therefore, they are not going to get any compensation whenever the lands are going to be acquired for widening of national highway by the National Highway Authority of India. Counsel for the petitioner has also submitted that there is also a prayer for granting adequate compensation as and when their houses and shops are demolished for the widening of national highway by the National Highway Authority of India. It is further submitted on behalf of the petitioner that larger public interest is involved in this writ petition and number of persons are going to be affected by the outcome of this writ petition. The land in question is Kaiser-e-Hind land i.e. the land of the Government of India. Counsel for the petitioner has also pointed out the history prior to 1908 and after 1908 and also the history of post- constitutional period, i.e. 1950. The Government has to issue rent receipts as per Annexures 1 and 3 to this writ petition. 3) Counsel for the State submitted that this is not a Public Interest Litigation at all. Those who are aggrieved by the inaction on the part of -2- the State in not issuing the rent receipts, can ventilate their grievance and any violation of right can be remedied by the authorities. There are Circle Officer, the Deputy Collector of Land Reforms and from this authority, the appeal is available before the Deputy Commissioner/Commissioner of the Division and therefore, they cannot file a writ petition directly before this Court. The rent receipts are to be given as per the Bihar Tenants Holdings (Maintenance of Records) Act, 1973. Thus, adequate provision has been made under the Bihar Tenants Holdings (Maintenance of Records) Act, 1973 as well as under other land Acts applicable in different parts of the State and concerned party can ventilate his grievance before the authorities as provided in law. As and when the land would be acquired for road widening of the national highway, in the light of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act and the Constitution of India, compensation shall be paid and, therefore, this writ petition may not be entertained by this Court. 4) Having heard learned counsel for both the sides and looking to the facts and circumstances of the case, we see no reason to entertain this writ petition mainly for the following reasons: - a) This litigation is not a Public Interest Litigation at all. Moreover, it further appears from the facts of the case that the petitioner is praying for issuance of rent receipts for several persons who are either owner of the property or possessor of the property. Number of factual aspects are also involved in this writ petition about the legality of the title, possession, right and interest in the land or in the super- structure upon the land. Rent receipts cannot be granted like a newspaper to everyone. It is not a commodity available to each & every one and public at large. It depends upon the documents of each and every land and its owner with regard to his possession, right, title or interest upon the land or super-structure thereon. Unless these facts are proved, no rent receipt can be given by the State to anyone. The rent receipts, as submitted by the counsel for the petitioner, will be utilized for getting adequate compensation whenever the land is going to be acquired or whenever the super-structure is going to be acquired for the road widening by the National -3- Highway Authority of India. Thus, even as per the counsel for the petitioner, the rent receipt is a very vital document and, therefore cannot be given just upon asking. b) Looking to the provisions of Bihar Tenants Holdings (Maintenance of Records) Act, 1973 to be read with Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908 and in view of the other provisions of the land Acts, which are applicable in the State of Jharkhand, whenever such title or document thereof are not given, the aggrieved party is not remedyless ubi jus ibi remedium. Whenever there is a wrong, there is a remedy. Under the Acts applicable in the State of Jharkhand, there is a hierarchy of the officers, namely, i) ii) iii) Circle Officer; Deputy Collector of Land Reforms; Deputy Commissioner/Commissioner; The hierarchy of officers envisaged in the Acts can look into the grievance of public at large and thus, a general direction cannot be given to the Government for issuance of rent receipts to each & every person. Government has to act as per the law, rules, regulations and the policies. If claim of any person is found within law, it is the bounded duty of the State to issue rent receipt and not otherwise. 5) Thus, we see no reason to entertain this writ application and the same is hereby dismissed with cost of Rs.25000/- (Rupees Twenty-five thousand) only. This amount of Rs.25000/- will be deposited by the petitioner before the Jharkhand High Court Legal Services Authority, Nyay Sadan, Doranda, Ranchi, within four weeks. 6) Copy of this order will be sent to Secretary, Jharkhand High Court Legal Services Authority, Ranchi. (D. N. Patel, A.C.J.) Manoj/cp.2 (S. Chandrashekhar, J)