The main legal point established in the judgment is the availability of an alternative statutory remedy under the Assam Right to Public Services Act, 2012, and the court's emphasis on the petitioner pursuing that remedy.

JUDGMENT :

1. The petitioner has instituted this writ petition under article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ in the nature of mandamus for a direction to the respondent-authorities, more particularly the respondent No. 2 and the respondent No. 3 to dispose of an application submitted by the petitioner seeking partition of a plot of land purportedly belonging to him.

2. A brief narration of the facts as averred in this writ petition appears necessary. : The petitioner has, on the strength of a copy of Chitha (Annexure-1), a revenue paying receipt (Annexure-2) and a trace map (Annexure-3), projected that he is one of the co-owners/co-pattadars of a parcel of land measuring 15 Bighas, 3 Kathas, 5 Lessas (15B-03K-05L), covered by Dag No. 40 and K.P. Patta No. 567, located at Revenue Village - Garpandu Kumarpara, Mouza - Jalukbari within the Kamrup Metropolitan District.

2.1 The petitioner has further stated that in the first part of the year 2020, it came to his notice that the respondent Northeast Frontier Railway (The N.F. Railway') authorities have made encroachment in some part of the above parcel of land The petitioner, through his advocate, served, a legal notice dated 26.2.2020 (Annexure-4) upon the respondent-N.F. Railway authorities to vacate the encroached part of the above plot of land. In the legal notice dated 26.2.2020, he had projected himself to be one of the co-owners and the attorney of the rest of the co-owners of plot of lands, covered by Dag Nos. 40, 41, 42 and 43 and K.P. Patta No. 567. The petitioner, in that legal notice, had asserted that the respondent-N.F. Railway authorities had encroached more or less 3 Bighas of land out of the plots of land, referred in the legal notice. The petitioner had claimed that since the respondent-N.F. Railway did not acquire that part of the land so encroached, the same should be vacated.

2.2 The respondent-N.F. Railway, through its Senior Divisional Engineer, had responded to the legal notice dated 26.2.2020 by a written reply dated 1.6.2020. In the reply, the respondent-N.F. Railway authorities had denied about any kind of encroachment by the respondent-N.F. Railway over the plots of land mentioned in the legal notice. It was claimed that all the lands in its possession belonged to the N.F. Railway and as such, there was no question of vacating any alleged encroached land, as sought for by the petitioner. It was stated in the reply that the petitioner could approach the respondent-Revenue authorities for demarcation of those plots of land and the respondent-N.F. Railway would have no objection for such demarcation of those plots of land, mentioned, in the legal notice, if the same would not hamper the interests of the respondent-N.F. Railway. 23 A process of demarcation was thereafter, undertaken by the respondent No. 3 by serving notices dated 22.10.2020 to the concerned stakeholders in order to put them on notice that on 13.11.2020, a process of demarcation to ascertain the status of the plots of land, covered by Dag Nos. 40, 41, 42 and 43 and K.P. Patta No. 567, located at Revenue Village- Garpandu Kumarpara, Mouza - jaiukbari, District - Kamrup (Metro) would be undertaken. Pursuant to the notice dated 22.10.2020, a process was undertaken to ascertain the status of the lands, mentioned in the notice, in presence of officials of the respondent-N.F. Railway. From the reports (Annexure-7) signed by the respondent No. 3, it transpires that the Revenue officials had undertaken the exercise of demarcation of the lands, covered, by Dag Nos. 40, 41, 42 and 43 and K.P. Patta No. 567.

2.4 The petitioner has stated that after carrying out the exercise of demarcation on 13.11.2020 by the Revenue officials, the petitioner came to know that some portion of the petitioner's co-owned lands covered, by the above Dag Nos., were under encroachment of the respondent-N.F. Railway. An application dated 18.11.2020 was submitted by the petitioner to the respondent-N.F. Railway aut