Order on Board

20/12/2024

1. By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have sought the following relief (S) :-

“10.1 That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue appropriate writ, order,, direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent state authorities to acquire the petitioners land by following due process of law and conclude the acquisition proceedings for the acquisition of petitioners land for Benngaga Jalashya Yozna at village Ghutaradeeh and the authorities may be directed to pass a final award and disburse the compensation to the petitioners within a stipulated period of time.

10.2 That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue appropriate writ, order, direction directing the respondent state authorities to grant all the statutory benefits including market value, multiplication factor, interest and solarium and passed the final award disburse the compensation and the respondents may be further directed to conclude the acquisition proceeding within stipulated period of time.

10.3 Any appropriate writ, direction or order may also kindly be passed in favour of the petitioners, which this Hon’ble Court deems fit in the circumstances of the case.

2. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that the petitioners are resident of Ghutaradeeh, Tahsil Samari Kusmi, District Balrampur- Ramanujganj. The petitioners are the owners of land as mentioned in the description of the petitioners in the cause title. The land of the petitioners came under the sub-merged area of “Benganga Jalashya Yozna”. Based on the representation made and also considering the fact that the land of petitioners along with other villagers got sub-merged, the proceedings of land acquisition were initiated. It is contended that the respondent authorities also conducted spot verification and prepared a list of affected persons indicating the name of affected persons under the “Benganga Jalashya Yozna”. He further contended that the name of the village “Ghutaradeeh” is also included in the list of villages from which the lands were acquired. It is next contended that the petitioners submitted oral as well as written representations requesting the respondent authorities to pass an award in favour of the affected persons with respect to the land acquired of the villages mentioned therein. However, till date, the land acquisition proceedings has not been completed and the petitioners have not been paid the amount of compensation, to which they are entitled. Therefore, he prays that a suitable direction be issued to the respondents to conclude the land acquisition proceeding and pay the amount of compensation at the earliest.

3. Learned counsel for the State would submit that if direction is issued to the respondents to conclude the land acquisition proceedings based on the documents placed on record, it shall be complied with in accordance with law.

4. I have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the documents placed on the record.

5. From a perusal of the documents and facts narrated by the petitioners, it appears that the land of the petitioners came under the sub-merged area of “Benganga Jalashya Yozna”. Also, the petitioners have filed the revenue documents showing the land recorded in their names. It is apparent that till date, neither the land acquisition proceeding has been completed nor the award has been granted nor compensation has been granted.

6. Given the above-facts, without commenting anything on the merits of the case, at this stage, this petition is disposed of directing the respondents to conclude the land acquisition proceedings and pay the amount of compensation to the petitioners in accordance with law, if their lands are acquired and affected in the water reservoir project, at the earliest, preferably within a period of six months from the date of receipt of copy of this order.

7. With the aforesaid observations & directions, the writ petit