The court upheld the validity of the land allotment for a project of national importance and found it to be in accordance with Rule 7 of the Rajasthan Tenancy (Government) Rules, 1955.

ORDER :

1. The instant writ petition in the nature of Public Interest Litigation has been preferred by the petitioners herein being residents of the Gram Panchayat Kan Singh Ki Sid, Tehsil Bap, District Jodhpur for assailing the action of the respondents in dereserving and declassifying land admeasuring 451 Bighas from the Gochar land of Kan Singh Ki Sid and allotting it to the Power Grid Corporation Of India Limited (hereinafter referred to as ‘the PGCIL’) for installation of 765/400/220 K.V. Grid Sub Station.

2. We have considered the submissions advanced at bar and have gone through the pleadings of the parties and the other material placed on record.

3. The petitioners seek to question validity of the action of the respondents in declassifying 451 Bighas of Gochar land from Khasra No.240, Village Kan Singh Ki Sid. In this regard, challenge has primarily been laid to the order (Annexure-4) dated 28.08.2019 issued by the District Collector, Jodhpur whereby, acting upon the letter dated 06.05.2019 issued by the Sub Divisional Officer, Bap, the District Collector accepted the recommendation and directed declassification of the above chunk of Gochar (Pasture) land and recommended the allotment thereof to the PGCIL on payment to the tune of Rs.5,19,51,324/-. At the same time, 451 Bighas of land from Khasra No.491, Village Kan Singh Ki Sid (classified as ‘Gair Mumkin Magra’) was allotted by way of compensating the reduction in Gochar land on account of above allotment. The foundation of the petitioners’ challenge to the impugned order is two fold:

(i) that the consent of the Gram Panchayat for making the allotment is mandatory as per Rule 7 of the Rajasthan Tenancy (Government) Rules, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Rules of 1955’) and that the Gram Panchayat never gave any such consent for the allotment in question, and

(ii) that the land of Khasra No.491 set apart by way of compensation for the Gochar land, is categorised as ‘Gair Mumkin Magri’ and thus, the same would not serve the purpose of grazing area for the village cattle.

4. Reply to the writ petition has been filed by the State authorities (respondents Nos.1 to 4) wherein, it is submitted that the Gram Panchayat issued the consent letter (Annexure-R/3) dated 02.05.2019 which bears the signatures of the Sarpanch as well as Gram Sevak of Gram Panchayat Kan Singh Ki Sid. On the basis thereof, the plea raised by the writ petitioners that the declassification of the Gochar land has been done without taking consent of the Gram Panchayat as per Rule 7 of the Rules of 1955, is controverted. It has further been submitted that the total Gochar area reserved in the village Kanji Ki Sid is admeasuring about 14249-11 Bighas. Total cattle population of the village is only 1800 odd and thus, available Gochar land, even after allotment made in favour of PGCIL, is more than enough to sustain the grazing need of the entire cattle population. It has further been submitted that the allotment of the land has been made to PGCIL which a Government of India undertaking and that too on payment of cost of land and thus, there was no oblique motive on part of the respondents in making the allotment. The allotment has been made for benefit of public at large and the petitioners’ claim that the writ petition has been filed in public interest, has been refuted.

5. Reply to the writ petition has also been filed by the respondent No.6 PGCIL wherein, it has been averred that the subject allotment of the land for establishment of the grid sub station was made after following the due process of law and that alternate land of equal measurement has been allotted for compensating the reduction in the Gochar land. It has further been submitted in the reply that the grid sub station is being constructed to meet the requirement of the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission launched by the Ministry of Power, Government of India. It is further stated that the Corporation has already started raising con