The inclusion of land in a prohibited list without due process violates property rights and natural justice principles, requiring procedural fairness in administrative actions.

ORDER :

DEEPAK ROSHAN, J.

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

2. These writ applications have been preferred by the petitioners praying for common relief of quashing the order dated 10.10.2023 passed by the Deputy Commissioner, Dhanbad in the respective Misc. cases wherein the Deputy Commissioner has rejected the application of the petitioners regarding removal of their respective land from the list of prohibited property.

3. The petitioners have further prayed for a direction upon the respondent(s) to remove their respective land from the list of prohibited property uploaded on the NGDRS Portal.

4. The matter relates to removal of the respective lands of the petitioners, situated in Dhanbad, from the prohibited list of properties uploaded on National Generic Document Registration System (hereinafter referred to as 'NGDRS').

5. The description of the land of the respective petitioners is as under:

6. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioners are raiyats of the respective portion of their land in C.S. Plot No. 262, Khata No. 157, Mouza No. 51, Mouza-Dhanbad which originally belonged to Raja Shiva Prasad Singh of Jharia Raj Estate who settled the land with his wife, Rani Smt. Mandakini Kumari Devi by a permanent Tikuri Settlement Deed No. 2090 dated 27.04.1936 which was registered at Dhanbad Sub-Registry Office.

7. The petitioners are the land owners who had entered into a Development Agreement dated 11.12.2007 with Kalpatru Electricals & Allied Products Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter, referred to as "the developer"), in terms of which the Developer has constructed a multi-storied residential- cum-commercial building complex on the land in question of the Petitioners and the adjoining lands.

8. When the Developer approached the Sub-Registrar, Dhanbad in the year 2019 to register the sale deeds in favour of the purchasers, the Developer was informed that the registration could not be done because the land in question was listed in prohibited property uploaded on the website https://jharnibandhan.gov.in (hereinafter referred to as "NGDRS Portal").

9. The petitioners therefore instituted respective Miscellaneous Cases before the Deputy Commissioner, Dhanbad who is the Competent Authority as per the notification dated 07.09.2021 issued by the Department of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms, Jharkhand for removal of their respective land in question from prohibited property uploaded on NGDRS portal, which has been rejected. Hence the writ applications.

10. A counter affidavit has been filed by the State in W.P.(C) No. 1510 of 2024 wherein the main ground taken by the state authorities is that Plot No. 262 is recorded as Gair Abad in the Cadastral Record of Rights.

11. The issue in the present