The main legal point established in the judgment is that a land oustee, whose residential house has been acquired, is entitled to employment under Clause 3(c) of the Madhya Pradesh Rehabilitation Policy, 1991.

ORDER :

1. The petitioner has filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India against order dated 13.01.2012 (Anneuxre P/1) issued by Respondent No.5, whereby the claim of the petitioner for grant of appointment on the basis of acquisition of his house and land, has been rejected by the S.E.C.L. authorities holding that there is no mention of house in the sale deed executed in favour of the petitioner.

2. Brief facts of the case, as projected by the petitioner, are that the petitioner is land oustee of village Katgodi, District Korea, whose land has been acquired by S.E.C.L. under Section 9 of the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act, 1957. The S.E.C.L. has constructed buildings and shaft of Charcha East Colliery on the land of the petitioner and other land oustees. The name of the petitioner finds place at Sl. No. 29 of the acquisition chart (Annexure P/2) prepared for acquisition of land. The petitioner’s land bearing Kh. No.1449/5, area 0.25 hectares, situated at village Katgodi has been acquired vide order dated 02.06.1995 passed by the land Acquisition Officer-cum-Collector, Korea. In the aforesaid land, house of the petitioner was also there along with the land, which is evident from copy of Khasra Panchshala (Annexure P/3). After acquisition of land of the petitioner, the compensation of the land has been fixed/accesses and accordingly, all the land oustees, whose land have been acquired, were given compensation as per their entitlement. As per the Rehabilitation Scheme/Policy (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Policy’) of the State Government (Annexure P/4), in addition to compensation, employment to the land oustees were also provided and 14 persons were given employment in the S.E.C.L. Since, the petitioner was not given adequate compensation and further he was not given employment as per the Policy, he filed representations dated 15.10.1996, 11.12.1998, 10.02.2000, 02.06.2001 and 13.05.2002 (Annexure P/5 colly) to the Chief General Manager, S.E.C.L., Baikunthpur Area. Copy of the representation dated 16.05.2002 (Annexure P/6) was also given to the Chief Minister, State of C.G., Chairman, Human Rights Commission, Raipur, and to the Collector, Korea. Thereafter, the State Government issued a memo to the Collector for taking necessary action, in respect of the representation of the petitioner. The Collector, Korea, has enquired about the matter and arrived at finding that a house was also situated over the acquired land of the petitioner, but he was not paid adequate compensation and employment as per circular dated 25.12.1991 of the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Government of Madhya Pradesh. Thereafter, the Collector wrote a memo dated 02.11.2002 (Annexure P/7) to the Chief General Manager, S.E.C.L., Baikunthpur, for giving adequate compensation and employment to the petitioner within a week. When nothing was done for a month, the Collector-cum-Land Acquisition Officer further wrote a letter (Annexure P/8) to the Chief General Manager, S.E.C.L., Baikunthpur, to take immediate action in the matter of the petitioner and to inform him till 06.12.2002. The Land Acquisition Officer – cum – Additional Collector further wrote a letter dated 19.12.2002 (Annexure P/9) to the Chief General Manager, S.E.C.L. Baikunthpur to provide employment to the petitioner.

3. The S.E.C.L. has informed the petitioner vide Annexure P/10 that he is not entitled for employment as per rules. Thereafter, the Land Acquisition Officer – cum – Collector, Korea, vide its order dated 22.03.2004 (Annexure P/11), has revised the compensation for the land of the petitioner holding that according to the report of the Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue), Baikunthpur, and on the basis of Khasra Panchshala of the years 1993-94, 1995-96, 1999-2000, there is mention about house situated over the land and therefore, the compensation for the house is required to be given and accordingly, compensation for the house was also awarded and total