Hon'ble Suresh Kumar Gupta,J.
Heard Shri Onkar Nath Tiwari, the learned counsel for the petitioners and Shri A.K. Pandey, learned counsel for the State-respondents.
The petitioners seek a restraint order against the respondents from taking over the possession of their land without following the due process of law and payment of compensation.
It is alleged that the petitioners are the recorded tenure holders of plot nos. 962 and 1059, having an area of 0.564 and 1.240 Hectare, respectively situated in village Kushmaha, Tehsil Sadar, District Faizabad/Ayodhya. For expansion of airport at Ayodhya, land around the airport is being taken by the State Government through private negotiations in terms of the Government order dated 19.03.2015.
The grievance of the petitioners is that they are not ready to part with their land on the terms and conditions of the existing purchase policy of the State Government. It is submitted that they are being compelled to give their consent and execute the sale deed by the State administration.
This is not the only case of its kind. Every day this Court is inundated with petitions having a similar set of facts and seeking almost identical relief against the State administration.
Indisputably, the State ordinarily can acquire a property in exercise of its power of "eminent domain" subject to existence of a public purpose and on payment of reasonable compensation in terms of the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The State has been empowered to acquire land on the basis of negotiations. However, it is not expected of the respondents to usurp their power in denuding the petitioners of their property without resorting to due procedure of law viz acquiring the property under the provisions of the Act and/or by private negotiation.
Time and again the Courts have deprecated the practice of taking forcible possession of the private land of the citizens without acquisition and or giving adequate compensation to them.
A Division Bench of this Court in Writ Petition No. 14473 of 2019, Gayatri Devi and others Vs. State of U.P. and others, has issued directions for taking action against the erring officials who take the possession of the land from the owners illegally without adhering to the statutory provisions. Relevant portion of the report is extracted below:
"7. Before parting with the case, we are constrained to record our strong displeasure on the trend of taking possession of the private land of the citizens without acquisition or giving any compensation to them. Such practice is unsound and should be deprecated in no uncertain language. State authorities for the purpose of widening the road are taking the possession of the private land without acquisition or giving any fair compensation as provided under the relevant law. Before taking the possession, compensation as provided under the relevant statute has to be paid by the authorities. Under no circumstances the State should either acquire the land or take possession in contravention of the Right to Fair Compensation Act or any other relevant statute or prescribed procedure under the law. The act of the authorities concerned is in violation of the Article 14 and Article 300A of the Constitution of India. Under Section 300A of the Constitution of India, no person can be deprived of his property except by authority of law. Article 300A proclaims that a person cannot be deprived of his property merely by executive fiat without any specific legal authority or without support of law made by a competent legislature.
8. Compulsory acquisition without acquiring the land or making any payment of the property belonging to a private individual is a serious matter having grave repercussions on his constitutional right of not being deprived of his property without sanction of law. The State must exercise its power with great care and circumspection. Although right to property is no longer the fundamental right but still it is a constitutional right. It will be borne in mind that right to property no longer be a fundamental right but it is not only a constitutional right but also a human right and no one can be deprived of his or her property arbitrarily.
9. In view the above, Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow is directed to ensure that action be taken against the erring officials who take the possession of the land from the owners illegally without adhering to the statutory provisions. We may emphasize that before taking possession of the land from its owner, the relevant provisions of law and rules made there under must be strictly adhered to.
10. With this observation, the writ petition stands finally disposed of.
11. Let a copy of this order be sent to the Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow for strict compliance. Registrar General of this Court is also directed to circulate this order to all the Commissioners, District Magistrates as well as Vice Chairmans of the development authorities in the State."
(emphasis supplied) It appears that the authorities are acting in breach of law and the directions issued by the Courts repeatedly. This is compelling the citizens to rush to this Court for the redressal of their genuine grievances. This is resulting in loss of time and resources of this Court which can be avoided if the State authorities simply follow the due process of law and the orders passed by the Courts in this regard.
In the circumstances, let the District Magistrate, Faizabad appear before this Court on 18.11.2021.
Order Date :- 23.10.2021 Anupam (Suresh Kumar Gupta, J.) (Rakesh Srivastava, J.)