Court No. - 21
Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 936 of 2021 Petitioner :- Arjun Lal Kushwaha Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 9 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ram Lakhan Kanoujia Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Azad Rai
Hon'ble Dinesh Pathak,J.
Heard Shri Ram Lakhan Kanoujia, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel, Shri Azad Rai, learned counsel for the Gaon Sabha and perused the record.
Present wit petition has been filed by the petitioner in the nature of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for removal of illegal encroachment made by private respondent nos.5 to 10 over several ponds of the Village - Bamharauli Uparhar, District Prayagraj.
It is submitted that public utility land i.e. Plot Nos. 226, 990 etc. situate in Village - Bamharauli Uparhar, District Prayagraj are recorded as "Ponds" in the revenue record. It is submitted that in reply dated 26.05.2018 to the query in the R.T.I., Lekhpal has given details of ponds, which is annexed as Annexure No.1. Respondent nos.5 to 10 have illegally encroached upon the ponds in question, without any legal right and title, otherwise than in accordance with the law, which is causing inconvenience to the public at large. In support of his case, petitioner has filed extract of Khatauni 1423 Fasli to 1428 Fasli (Annexure no.2).
Grievance of the petitioner is that despite the application dated 18.12.2020, having been submitted, till date no effective measures have been taken by the authorities concerned to remove the illegal encroachment made by respondent nos.5 to 10, over the ponds in question, to either initiate a proceeding under the relevant provisions of U.P. Revenue Code, 2006 or reject the application/s filed by the petitioner/s. It is thus urged that not taking any action against the encroachment over the public property amounts omission from legal obligation entrusted upon the officer concerned under the law.
Learned Standing Counsel, however, contended that petitioner has an alternative and efficacious remedy to move an application under Section 67 of the U.P. Revenue Code, 2006, with respect to his grievances as made in the present writ petition.
In this conspectus as above, no useful purpose would be served to keep this matter pending, therefore, this court deems it appropriate to finally dispose of the present writ petition filed in the nature of public interest litigation (PIL), without making any observation on the merits of the case as mentioned in the writ petition, with a direction that petitioner is at liberty to move fresh representation, within period of three weeks from today, qua his grievances as mentioned in the present writ petition along with copy of this order before Sub Divisional Magistrate/ Tehsildar, Tehsil Sadar Allahabad/ Prayagraj (respondent no.3), who shall take action and initiate legal proceeding under the relevant provisions of U.P. Revenue code, 2006 read with U.P. Revenue Code Rules, 2016 and conclude the same in accordance with law expeditiously, preferably, within the period of three months from the date in receipt of the aforesaid representation.
The petitioner shall file a computer generated copy of this order downloaded from the official website of High Court, Allahabad, supported by an affidavit, which shall be verified by the concerned authority from the website of the High Court, Allahabad.
With the aforesaid observations, this petition is finally disposed of.
Order Date :- 28.7.2021 Zafar