Encroachers on government land cannot claim regularization or maintain encroachments.

Dinesh Maheshwari, J.- This writ petition, styled as Public Interest Litigation has been submitted by one Tilak Nagar Vikas Samiti, Bikaner, said to be a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, purportedly to make a request to this Court to come to the rescue of poor persons residing at Tilak Nagar Kachi Basti, Bikaner who are sought to be uprooted by the Urban Improvement Trust Bikaner (UIT for short) at the instance of high-ups; and the petitioner has prayed for the following relief s:-

“It is, therefore, most humbly and respectfully prayed that record of the case may be called for

and by an appropriate writ, order or direction:-

i. thedecision of the respondent/Trust in extending the so called Ashok Nagar Scheme in the Tilak Nagar area, be quashed and set aside and respondents may kindly be restrained from dispossessing/evicting the members of the petitioner-Samiti from the area in question in pursuance of the said decision of the Trust;

ii. respondents may kindly be directed to regularize the old possession of the members of the petitioner-Samiti and they may be issued Pattas in accordance with the extent circulars/orders issued by the State Government from time to time after charging price/rate as fixed by the State Government;

iii. therespondents may kindly be directed to reconstruct the kucha/pucca construction removed by them illegally in the recent programme named “Operation Clean and Safe Road” and such of the members may be compensated adequately;

iv. in the alternative and without prejudice to above it is prayed that the so called " Ashok Nagar and alleged extension Scheme", be declared illegal and accordingly be quashed by this Honble Court;

v. during the pendency of the writ petition the status quo ante be ordered;

vi. if during the pendency of the writ petition it is shown that any allotment has been made in favour of any person, the same may also be quashed and no possession of land be ordered to be handed over to any such allottee(s) and no lease deed etc be permitted to be executed in their favour and they be further restrained from raising any kind of construction thereon;

vi. anyother appropriate relief(s) which this Honble High Court deems just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may be passed in favour of the petitioner;

vii. writ petition of the petitioner may kindly be allowed with costs."

2. Multifarious reliefs aforesaid, essentially seeking prohibition against the respondent-UIT from proceeding with extension of their Ashok Nagar Scheme to the Tilak Nagar area and for directions to

the respondents to regularize the possession on the disputed place and to restore the removed construction have been claimed on the statement of facts in the writ petition to the effect that the plan annexed with the writ petition as Annexure-1 relate to the entire area in question; that at an adjacent land the respondent-UIT has established Ashok Nagar and in the garb of its extension, the UIT has taken a decision to uproot the poor persons of petitioner-Society and to allot the land to some high-ups; that Tilak Nagar came into existence 4-5 decades back with a large number of poor and illiterate person settling thereat; they raised kucha/pucca construction and some part of the land changed hands also; that no objection whatsoever was raised by any local authority in such settlement of people and in due course of time, they got electricity, water and telephone connections, ration cards and were included in the voter lists also; that the area in question occupied by the members of the petitioner-Society answer to the definition of Kuchi Basti; that when Ashok Nagar Scheme was under contemplation, representations were made to the District Administration and to the then Chief Minister with a request to shift Ashok Nagar Scheme to some other place; that after the change of Government in the State of Rajasthan, certain persons prevailed upon the Government to take steps for removal of