A temporary injunction is an equitable remedy that requires proof of a prima facie case and a balance of convenience. Permissive occupiers of public land cannot claim the protection of an injunction to prevent their eviction when no valid legal title exists and public interest is involved.

JUDGEMENT :

ROBIN PHUKAN, J.

Heard Mr. K. Rahman, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. M.U. Mahmud, learned counsel for the respondents.

2. In this petition, under Article 227 of the Constitution of India read with Section 115 of the CPC, the petitioner has challenged the judgment and order dated 12.11.2024, passed by the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), Darrang at Mangaldai (appellate court hereinafter), in Misc. Appeal No. 14/2023.

3. It is to be noted here that vide impugned judgment and order dated 12.11.2024, the learned appellate court had affirmed the ad- interim temporary injunction order dated 02.11.2023, passed by the learned Civil Judge (Junior Division) No. 1, Darrang at Mangaldai (trial court hereinafter), in Misc. (J) Case No. 25/2023.

4. It is also to be noted here that vide order dated 02.11.2023, the learned trial court had restrained the petitioner herein and its tenants from encroaching the Schedule A1, A2, A5 – A10 land and also from disturbing the possession of the respondents in any manner till final disposal of the suit.

5. The back ground facts, leading to filing of the present petition, are briefly stated as under:-

“Kuaripukhuri High School A, represented by its Headmaster cum Member Secretary, the petitioner herein, was earlier a Madrassa institution, which was converted to a High School and it is covering an area about 6 Bighas 1 Katha 9 Lechas and since the petitioner school is running under the Directorate of Secondary Education, Government of Assam, the said property now becomes the Government property.

Earlier one Dhepu Sheikh, was the owner of the said land and during his lifetime, he had orally gifted the said land in the name of Kuwari Pukhuri Kharejia Madrassa, which was, later on, converted to Kuwari Pukhuri High School A and out of the total land, the petitioner school had given a plot of land, measuring 5 Bighas, to several local people for cultivation in yearly 'thika' basis and the paddy received from the said cultivators was used for the development/management of the institution and after conversion, the petitioner school was provincialised on 15.08.1994, and thereafter, the said land was mutated in the name of the petitioner school in the year 1999.

Then, in the year 2014, out of the said land, 2 Kathas 10 Lechas had been given to Galandi Hafizia for temporary settlement and the same has been functioning in the house constructed over the said land without interruption and 1 Bigha of the total land has also been developed and maintained as a cemetery for the public and around 3 Kathas of land in front of the Galandi Hafizia Madrassa was used by its students as a playground. Thereafter, in the year 2021, the respondent Nos. 1 – 4, along with one Akabar Ali and Sahamat Ali, illegally entered into the land and forcefully dispossessed them from the same and illegally constructed an „ekchalia house‟ over the same.

In the meantime, the land has been mutated in the name of Kuwari Pukhuri High School A, vide Government order No. DSE/GIS/Amal/9/2021/127, dated 06.05.2022. Then, in the month of May, 2021, after the expiry of the thika period, the Kuwari Pukhuri High School „A‟ had taken over the possession of the land measuring 5 Bighas from respondent Nos. 5 – 8.

Thereafter, on 22.12.2022, the School authority had arranged a public meeting and the 5 Bighas of land were once again given in thika basis, as per open tender No.1,