Court No. - 21
Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 1547 of 2021 Petitioner :- Arvind Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 5 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Sandeep Maniji Bakhshi Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Dinesh Pathak,J.
At the very outset, learned counsel for the petitioner seeks permission of this Court to implead the Gaon Sabha concerned as respondent no.7 in the array of parties of the writ petition.
Learned Standing Counsel has no objection to the aforesaid prayer.
Prayer is allowed. Learned counsel for the petitioner is permitted to implead the Gaon Sabha concerned as respondent no.7 in array of the parties to present writ petition, during course of the day.
Heard Sri Sandeep Maniji Bakhshi, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel representing the respondent nos.1 to 3 and Sri Achal Rai, learned counsel for the newly impleaded respondent no.7-Gaon Sabha and perused the record.
Present writ 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.4 to 6 over Plot no.716, area 0.4490 hectares, situated in Village-Lidhaura, Tehsil-Rath, District-Hamirpur.
It is submitted that public utility land i.e. Plot no.716, area 0.4490 hectares, situated in Village-Lidhaura, Tehsil-Rath, District-Hamirpur is recorded as public path (raasta) in the revenue record. Respondent nos.4 to 6 have illegally encroached upon the land 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 1428 Fasli to 1433 Fasli (Annexure no.1). It is further submitted that the petitioner has filed representation dated 04.08.2021 (Annexure-2) before the authorities concerned to ventilate his grievances qua illegal encroachment made by respondent nos.4 to 6 over the plot in question as mentioned above.
Grievance of the petitioner is that despite the representation dated 04.08.2021, having been submitted, till date no effective measures have been taken by the authorities concerned to remove the illegal encroachment made by respondent nos.4 to 6, over plot in question, by either initiating a proceeding under the relevant provisions of U.P. Revenue Code, 2006 or rejecting the application filed by the petitioner. 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 a copy of this order before the Tehsildar (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 a period of four months from the date of filing of the aforesaid representation.
The petitioner shall file a computer generated copy of this order before the authority concerned, after downloading it from the official website of High Court, Allahabad, which shall be supported by an affidavit. The authority concerned shall verify the same from the official website of this Court.
With the aforesaid directions, this petition is finally disposed of.
Order Date :- 23.9.2021 Manish Himwan