Eviction notices must comply with the legislative provisions of the governing Act to be deemed valid.

JUDGEMENT

Date : 15-07-2022 Heard Mr. Nitesh Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. C. Zoramchhana, learned Addl. Advocate General, Mizoram for the State respondents.

[2.] This is the second time the writ petitioner is before this Court. The earlier writ petition being WP(C) No. 21/2017 was filed challenging the eviction order dated 17.12.2015 by which the settlement at Tuichawngchhuah village (the Village) was declared to be illegal and unauthorized. The inhabitants of the said settlement were therefore asked to vacate the place immediately upon receipt of the eviction order. The writ petition came to be disposed of vide judgment & order dated 28.04.2018 whereby, the impugned eviction order dated 17.12.2015 was set aside after this Court came to a finding that the mandate of Section 26 of the Lushai Hills District (Village Councils) Act, 1953 (V.C Act) was not followed before the issuance of the impugned eviction order. It was also observed that the respondents were not precluded from taking a decision afresh but the same should strictly be in conformity with the mandate of the provisions of the V.C Act.

[3.] After the disposal of the earlier writ petition in the above manner, the respondent authorities in the Local Administration Department (LAD) vide order dated 28.05.2019 (Annexure-2) served a notice to the settlers of the Village, asking them to vacate the settlement within a period of three (3) months from the date of receipt of the notice failing which the imposition of a fine of Rs.100/- per day per family in terms of Section 26(5) of the V.C Act would be made. Aggrieved with the said order, the petitioner is again before this Court through the instant writ petition, praying for the impugned order to be set aside and quashed.

[4.] The case of the petitioner in brief is that he and his family along with 49 others similarly situated families who belong to the Chakma community are residing in the Village which has been in existence even before the country’s independence and in fact, it’s existence has been recorded as early as in the 1951 census, the census for the erstwhile Lushai Hills District of the State of Assam. That the petitioner, his family and other families are directly and gravely affected by the impugned eviction order dated 28.05.2019 purportedly issued under Section 26(2) of the V.C Act whereby, the 49 Chakma minority tribal families of the Village have been asked to vacate the village within three (3) months from the date of receipt of the order. According to the petitioner, the impugned eviction notice is illegal and with malafide intention and that the same is backed up by non-state actors despite the fact that the settlement existed even before the V.C Act came into force. The impugned Notice dated 28.05.2019 was served through the respondent No. 2 on 05.06.2019.

[5.] According to the petitioner, the writ petition is filed for the benefit of the entire 49 families consisting of 220 persons of the Village under Tuichawng Village Council in the District of Lunglei in Mizoram. That it is not possible for each and every person of the Village to come before this Court as petitioners due to their illiteracy, poor economic and social condition. Therefore, the petitioner being the Karbari (village head) of the Village is before this Court on behalf of everyone.

[6.] It is the case of the petitioner that the Village is a very old settlement of the Chakmas and has been in existence since the British period. In fact, the existence of the village was duly recorded in the Census of 1951 Assam Lushai Hills District Census Handbook. As per the Handbook at paragraph No. 18, the Village had 15 houses with its total inhabitants of 86 persons, which included 43 males and 43 females. The petitioner contends that the Village was also in existence when the State of Mizoram was carved out of the State of Assam initially as Union Territory on 21.01.1972. The Union Territory administration extended all facilities to