Court No. - 21
Case :- PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL) No. - 1274 of 2021 Petitioner :- Virendra Pratap Narayan Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 13 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Harish Kumar Tripathi Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Sudhir Bharti
Hon'ble Dinesh Pathak,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for the respondent nos.1 to 5 and Sri Sudhir Bharti, learned counsel for the respondent no.6-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.7 to 14 over Plot no.300, area 0.0610 hectares, situated in Village-Parasa Bujurg, Tappa-Viraicha, Pargana-Haweli, Tehsil-Sadar, District- Maharajganj.
It is submitted that public utility land i.e. Plot no.300, area 0.0610 hectares, situated in Village-Parasa Bujurg, Tappa-Viraicha, Pargana-Haweli, Tehsil- Sadar, District-Maharajganj is recorded as 'pokhari' (pond) in the revenue record. Respondent nos.7 to 14 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 1427 Fasli to 1432 Fasli (Annexure no.1). It is further submitted that the petitioner has filed representation dated 14.01.2021 (Annexure-2) and has also submitted a complaint dated 19.01.2021 on the government portal (Annexure-3), before the authorities concerned to ventilate his grievances qua illegal encroachment made by respondent nos.7 to 14 over the plot in question as mentioned above.
Grievance of the petitioner is that despite the representation dated 14.01.2021 and complaint on the government portal having been submitted, till date no effective measures have been taken by the authorities concerned to remove the illegal encroachment made by respondent nos.7 to 14, over plot in question, to either initiate a proceeding under the relevant provisions of U.P. Revenue Code, 2006 or reject the applications 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 copy of this order before the Tehsildar Sadar, District-Maharajganj (respondent no.5), 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 :- 12.8.2021 Manish Himwan