Court No. - 39
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 36073 of 2018 Petitioner :- Arvind And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 5 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ashutosh Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,A.S.G.I.,Neeraj Dube
Hon'ble B. Amit Sthalekar,J. Hon'ble Rajiv Joshi,J.
Heard Sri Ashutosh Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri Neeraj Dube, learned counsel for respondent nos. 4 and 5 and learned Standing counsel for respondent nos. 1 to 3.
This writ petition has been filed for quashing the order dated 28.4.2018 passed by the respondent no. 3-Special Land Acquisition Officer, District Ghazipur/Additional District Magistrate (Finance & Revenue), Ghazipur by which payment of compensation to the petitioners in respect of their land acquired has been stopped.
It reflects from the record that the land of the petitioners and other co-tenure holders being plot no. 481 Ga ( Old No. 281-Ga) has been acquired by the National Highway Authority of India (hereinafter referred to as the 'N.H.A.I.') under Section 3-H of the National Highways Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act').
It appears that some application was filed by respondent no. 6 before the respondent no. 3- Special Land Acquisition Officer, Ghazipur stating that in respect of plot no. 481 Ga ( Old No. 281-Ga) dispute is pending before the Settlement Officer Consolidation as well as before the Civil Court in Original Suit No. 335 of 2016 (Deo Karan Vs. Sarvan Kumar & Ors) for cancellation of sale-deed, therefore, compensation to the petitioners be not disbursed.
The petitioners filed their objection to the aforesaid application to the effect that they are co-tenure holders in respect of plot No. 481-Ga, which in coparcener of plot no. 481 and plot no. 480 which is in several parts and the petitioners are the exclusive owner and bhumidhar of plot no. 481-Ga area 0.013 hectare situate in Village Sikandra- Basupur, Pargana and Tehsil- Saidpur, District Ghazipur.
In the objection it was specifically stated by the petitioners that any portion of the land of plot no. 481-Ga is not subject matter of any dispute pending either before the Consolidation Authority or the Civil Court and therefore, the compensation in respect of the petitioners' land which was acquired by the N.H.A.I, be disbursed to them.
It further reflects from the record that the petitioners are not a party to the aforesaid civil suit.
However, the respondent no. 3 vide impugned order dated 28.4.2018 has suspended the disbursement of compensation amount in respect of the plot no. 481-Ga, simply on the ground that the dispute with regard to the said number is pending before the Consolidation Authority as well as Civil Court.
The Contention of learned counsel for the petitioners' is that the land in question of the petitioners being plot no. 481-Ga area 0.013 hectares is not the subject matter of any dispute before any authority or Court, but the Special Land Acquisition Officer, has not at all considered the petitioners' claim and in a summary manner passed the impugned order.
It is further submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that there is no application of mind by the respondent no. 3 to the petitioners' objection that the land which belongs to the petitioner is not the subject matter of any dispute pending before the Consolidation Authorities as well as Civil Court.
On the other hand, learned counsel appearing on behalf of National Highway Authority of India submits that the impugned order has been passed after considering each and every aspect of the matter and has supported the impugned order.
We have carefully gone through the impugned order and perused the record.
The specific case of the petitioners that they are owner of the land of plot no. 481-Ga area 0.013 hectares, has not been considered and no finding on the said point has been recorded by respondent no. 3 while stopping the payment of compensation to the tenure holders in respect of the plot no. 481-Ga. Even the objection filed by the petitioners has not been considered and dealt with in the order impugned.
Under the above circumstances, a direction is issued upon the respondent no. 3-the Special Land Acquisition Officer (Finance & Revenue), Ghazipur to consider the petitioners' objection and record a specific finding as to whether there is any dispute pending with regard to the claim of the petitioners in respect of Plot no. 481-Ga, area 0.013 hectares, and in case he finds that there is no dispute in respect of the area, the disbursement of the compensation of the said portion of the land be made to the petitioners. In case the respondent no.3 finds and comes to the conclusion that there is any dispute in respect of plot no. 481-Ga area 0.013 hectares, then he shall refer the dispute to the Principal Civil Court of Original Jurisdiction within the limits of whose jurisdiction the land is situated, in view of sub-section (4) of Section 3-H of the Act 1956. The above exercise shall be completed by the respondent no.3, within a period of two months from the production of a certified copy of this order.
With the aforesaid directions/observations, the writ petition is disposed of finally.
Order Date :- 30.10.2018 Akbar