B.K. Sharma, J.

1. The petitioner an advocate, who admittedly was in occupation of Government land, is aggrieved by his eviction from the land and demolition of his property therein.

2. As per the averments made in the writ petition, the petitioner had purchased the possessory right of the land measuring 1 katha and 10 lechas under Dag No. 359 situated at Village Khanapara, Mauza Beltola, Sub- Registry Guwahati in the district of Kamrup. Such purchase was in the year 1976 (18.6.1976). According to the petitioner he developed the land by plantation, etc., and also paid the land revenue from 1979-1991 when the Government stopped receiving such revenue (Touzibahi).

3. The wife of the petitioner who is a Government employee, availed official Government quarter in the year 1990 and the family of the petitioner started living there. The house which was constructed by the petitioner on the Government land was rented out and it remained under rent till 1997. The petitioner also paid municipal tax to the Guwahati Municipality Corporation ('GMC') from January 1997 to March 2005.

4. In April 2000 the petitioner made an application to the Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup for settlement of the said Government land under his possession. While describing the children of the petitioner in paragraph 2 of the writ petition, he has stated that his eldest daughter is studying in Civil Aviation Technology in New Delhi. His application for settlement of land was processed by the Chief Revenue Assistant and other authorities. Be it stated here that in the application, the petitioner described himself as landless and economically backward person. It appears that some query was made as to whether the land in question was involved in the particular writ proceeding [CR(SH) No. 128/98]. By Annexure II order dated 4.1.2004, the Chief Revenue Assistant in the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Revenue Settlement Branch requested the Circle Officer, Dispur Revenue Circle to submit a fresh proposal.

5. According to the petitioner, some surrendered militants came to occupy another plot of Government land lying vacant adjacent to the petitioner's land. However, later on they left the place and thereafter the Association called Minibus Association occupied and developed the said plot of land for the purpose of shifting their stand from Paltanbazar to Khanapara. It will be pertinent to mention here that the said land along with the land of the petitioner is adjacent to the National Highway No. 37. According to the petitioner, the said Association also abandoned the land and the same was occupied by the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) on 24.12.2003 and started functioning from there. The constructions were made for the bus station and the said bus station is known as Khanapara ASTC Bus Station.

6. When efforts were made to evict the petitioner and others by the ASTC authority, the petitioner and others filed a writ petition being W.P.(C) No. 570/2004 and the same was disposed of by order dated 5.2.2004 providing that if the petitioners were in possession of the land in question, they should not be evicted from the same except in accordance with law. After such an order passed by this Court, the petitioner once again approached the revenue authority for settlement of the land. However, he was evicted from the land on 25.2.2005 which according to the petitioner was without any prior notice. The construction made by the petitioner was also demolished. After such eviction of the petitioner from the land by the respondents, he lodged an FIR with the Basistha Police Station on 25.2.2005. According to the petitioner, the loss incurred by him for such eviction and demolition of his house stood at Rs. 10 lakhs and that he is entitled to compensation to the tune of Rs. 21,47,000.

7. It is in the aforesaid backdrop this writ petition has been filed with the prayer for declaring the eviction of the petitioner as illegal and to pay compensation to him.

8. The respondents