IMPORTANT POINT
The court upheld the validity of the Notification dated 20.07.2021, confirming that the State Government complied with the necessary provisions of Regulation 160 of the Assam Land & Revenue Regulation, 1886.

JUDGMENT :

(N. Unni Krishnan Nair, J.)

Heard Mr. H. R. A. Choudhury, learned senior counsel, assisted by Mr. M. A. Choudhury, learned counsel, appearing on behalf of the petitioners. Also heard Mr. Dilip Mazumdar, learned Addl. Advocate General, Assam; Ms. N. Bordoloi, learned standing counsel, Revenue & Disaster Management Department; and Mr. R. P. Sarmah, learned senior counsel, assisted by Mr. M. R. Adhikari, learned counsel; appearing on behalf of their respective respondents.

2. The challenge in the present Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is to a Notification, dated 20.07.2021, issued by the Government of Assam, Revenue(Settlement & Disaster Management Department) towards including the communities mentioned therein, in the list of protected classes of persons in Sadiya Tribal Belt, in exercise of powers conferred by Regulation 160(2) of Chapter X of the Assam Land & Revenue Regulation, 1886(as amended).

3. The petitioners, herein, have projected themselves to belong to the indigenous Scheduled Tribes of the District of Tinsukia, Assam, and being social workers; have proceeded to institute the present Public Interest Litigation(PIL), on behalf of the Scheduled Tribes and original backward classes of Sadiya Tribal Belt, against the action on the part of the respondent authorities in issuing the said Notification, dated 20.07.2021.

4. The projection made in this Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition is that the Notification, dated 20.07.2021, came to be issued without the State Government drawing the requisite satisfaction under Regulation 160(1) of Chapter X of the Assam Land & Revenue Regulation, 1886 (as amended), that the communities involved, on account of their primitive condition and lack of education or material advantages, are incapable of looking after their welfare, insofar as, such welfare depends upon their having sufficient land for their maintenance.

5. Mr. Choudhury, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, by referring to the provisions of Chapter X of the Assam Land & Revenue Regulation, 1886 (as amended), has submitted that the same was so incorporated primarily for the protection of the tribal communities residing in areas covered by it, with the objective of protecting their rights.

6. Mr. Choudhury, learned senior counsel, has further submitted that inclusion of the communities as mentioned in the Notification, dated 20.07.2021, in the list of protected classes of persons residing in Sadiya Tribal Belt; was so issued without satisfying the required conditions as specified under the provisions of Regulation 160(1) of the said Regulation of 1886.

7. Mr. Choudhury, learned senior counsel, has also submitted that on account of issuance of the said Notification, dated 20.07.2021; the rights of the existing protected classes of persons residing in Sadiya Tribal Belt, has been infringed with. The learned senior counsel has submitted that the communities now included in the list of protected classes of persons residing in Sadiya Tribal Belt, vide Notification, dated 20.07.2021, are all socially, economically and politically advanced communities and accordingly, they are not in the need of any special protection, more particularly, the protection as provided for under the provisions of Chapter X of the Assam Land & Revenue Regulation, 1886(as amended).

8. Mr. Choudhury, learned senior counsel, has also submitted that in terms of the Notification, dated 20.07.2021, and the inclusion of the communities as mentioned therein in the list of the protected classes of persons residing in Sadiya Tribal Belt; the respondent authorities had proceeded to issue land pattas to the members of such communities which has the effect of defeating the very purpose behind incorporation of Chapter X in the Assam Land & Revenue Regulation, 1886(as amended).

9. Mr. Choudhury, learned senior counsel, has further submitted that none of the communities now included in the list of protected classes of persons in