Item- WPA 28804 of 2025

22-01-2026 Biswajit Mitra & Ors Ct. 19 sg Versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Tanmoy Mukherjee Mr. Swapan Kumar Kar ...for the petitioners Mr. Swapan Dutta, Ld. GP Mr. Debjit Mukherjee Mr. P. Jana ...for the State An objection has been raised by Mr. Debjit Mukherjee, learned advocate for the State. He submits that a joint writ petition at the instance of applicants filing separate applications under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, is not maintainable.

Faced with such situation Mr. Tanmoy Mukherjee, learned advocate appearing for the petitioners prays for liberty to put in the deficit court fees.

As prayed for by Mr. Tanmoy Mukherjee, let deficit court fees be put in on or before January 28, 2026.

In case the deficit court fees are not put in within the time limit mentioned hereinbefore, the writ petition shall stand dismissed insofar as the writ petitioner nos. 2 to 15 are concerned.

Mr. Tanmoy Mukherjee, learned Advocate appearing for the petitioners, submits that in spite of submitting an application praying for reference to the Court for determination as to the adequacy of the compensation amount, the matter has not yet been referred by the Collector, District North 24 Parganas.

It is not in dispute that in the case in hand, the award was passed under the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation Act, 2013 and the petitioners, accordingly, received the compensation account. Though the application praying for reference is captioned as ‘one’ under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, Mr. Mukherjee submits that only the substance of the said application should be considered and not the caption. He submits that the said application has to be construed as an application under section 64 of the 2013 Act.

Mr. Mukherjee draws the attention of this Court to Section 64 of the 2013 Act, which provides for reference to Authority at the instance of a person interested, who has not accepted the award. Though Section 18 of the 1894 Act provides for reference for the determination of the Court, Section 64 of the 2013 Act provides for reference to Authority. Authority has been defined under Section 3(f) of the 2013 Act to mean the “Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority” established under Section 51. Section 51 of the 2013 Act provides for establishment of such Authority for speedy disposal of disputes relating to Land Acquisition, Compensation, Rehabilitation and Re-Settlement by a notification.

Considering the nature of the issues involved in this writ petition, this Court requests the learned Government Pleader to appear in this matter and to take instruction as to whether the Authority referred under Section 64 of the 2013 Act has been appointed.

The learned Government Pleader prays for an accommodation to take instruction in this regard.

As prayed for by the learned Government Pleader, list this matter on January 30, 2026 under the heading “To Be Mentioned”.

(Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, J.)