IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Letters Patent Appeal No.475 of 2019

In

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.3195 of 2019

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1.

Ajit Kumar Singh, S/o Late Raghubansh Prasad Singh, Resident of Dr.

Rajendra Prasad Path, Mohalla- Durga Asthan, Gauri Tola, P.S. Katihar,

District-Katihar.

2.

Amit Kumar Singh, S/o Late Raghubansh Prasad Singh, Resident of Dr.

Rajendra Prasad Path, Mohalla- Durga Asthan, Gauri Tola, P.S. Katihar,

District-Katihar.

... ... Appellants.

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar through Principal Secretary, Department of Revenue and

Land Reforms, Govt. of Bihar, Patna.

2.

The District Magistrate cum Collector, District-Katihar.

3.

The Sub Divisional Officer, Sub Divisional-Katihar.

4.

The Deputy Collector Land Reforms, Katihiar, District-Katihar

5.

The Circle Officer Katihar Block, District-Katihar.

6.

Ram Kumar Singh (Rtd. Engineer), S/o Late Man Mohan Singh, R/o Flat

No. 105, Ashiyana, Bihar, Near C.D.A. Building, Patna,

7.

Nishant Mohan Singh S/o Ram Kumar Singh, R/o Flat No. 105, Ashiyana,

Bihar, Near C.D.A. Building, Patna,

8.

Smt. Raka Rani Singh Wife of Ram Kumar Singh, R/o Flat No. 105,

Ashiyana, Bihar, Near C.D.A. Building, Patna

... ... Respondents.

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Appearance :

For the Appellants

: Mr. Sunil Singh, Advocate

Mr. Dhananjay Kumar, Advocate

For the Respondent Nos.6 to 8 : Mr. Gautam Kejriwal, Advocate

For the State : Mr. Shailendra Kumar Dwivedi, AC to AAG-12

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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH KUMAR

and

HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANJANI KUMAR SHARAN

ORAL JUDGMENT

(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH KUMAR)

Date : 18-04-2022

A rejoinder to the counter affidavit has

been filed across the board.

Patna High Court L.P.A No.475 of 2019 dt.18-04-2022

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Let it be taken on record.

Heard Mr. Sunil Singh, learned Advocate

for the appellants, Mr. Gautam Kejriwal for the

respondent nos.6 to 8 and Mr. Shailendra Kumar

Dwivedi for the State.

The appellants claim to be the bataidars,

who had approached the learned Deputy Collector, Land

Reforms, Katihar (hereinafter for the sake of brevity

referred to as ‘DCLR’) under Section 48E of the Bihar

Tenancy Act, 1885 (hereinafter referred to as ‘B.T. Act’)

against threatened ejectment by the private-respondents

/landlords. The DCLR in Batai Case No.745 of 2011-12

passed an order on 16.06.2012 rejecting the bataidari

claim of the appellants. The aforesaid order was put to

challenge in C.W.J.C. No.21216 of 2012 in which a

Bench of this Court, finding that proper procedure had

not been followed and the case appeared to have been

ante-dated without any notice to the appellants in which

an order against them was passed, set aside the

Patna High Court L.P.A No.475 of 2019 dt.18-04-2022

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aforesaid order and remanded the matter to the DCLR,

Katihar to decide the matter afresh on merits with the

caveat that the parties were not to be allowed to file any

fresh document, except original documents and the

DCLR was directed by the aforesaid order dated

11.12.2014 to conclude the process within a period of

one month from the date of receipt/production of a copy

of this order.

Pursuant to the aforesaid remand, the

matter was placed before the DCLR, who, vide his order

dated 14.07.2015, constituted a Conciliation Board for

the needful.

The order passed by a Bench of this Court

in C.W.J.C. No.21216 of 2012, remanding the matter to

the DCLR, was also put to challenge by the private-

respondents/landlords vide L.P.A. No.697 of 2015,

which was dismissed by order dated 26.07.2017.

Before the order in L.P.A. could be passed,

the DCLR, on remand,