Abdul Ommar v. The State of Assam and 20 Ors

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010129222023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oPIL/46/2023o ABDULoOMMARo S/O-oLATEoNAZIRoUDDIN,o VILLAGEoGOTABARI,o P.O-oHAZIRHAT,ooP.S-oSUKCHAR,o DIST-oSOUTHoSALMARAoMANKACHAR,oASSAM,oPIN-783128 VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo20oORSo REP.oBYoTHEoCHIEFoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVToOFoASSAMoREVENUEoANDo D.Mo(SETTLEMENToBRANCH)oDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATIo06 2:THEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVToOFoASSAMoREVENUEoDEPARTMENT DISPUR,oGUWAHATIo06 3:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oSOUTHoSALMARAoMANKACHAR P.OoANDoP.S-oHATSINGIMARI oASSAM,oPIN-783135 4:THEoCIRCLEoOFFICER oMANKACHARoREVENUEoCIRCLE DIST-oSOUTHoSALMARAoMANKACHAR P.OoANDoP.S-oMANKACHARo oASSAM,oPIN-783131 5:ABDULoKARIMoMOZUMDER oS/O-oLATEoHUSSAINoALI 6:GAZIoROHMAN oS/O-oLATEoRONJANoALI PageoNo.#o2/5 7:BOKKARoALI oS/O-oLATEoBANEZoMUNCHI 8:ABDULoHAMIDoSARKAR oS/OoLATEoATWARoALI 9:MOFIDULoISLAMoMOZUMDER oS/O-oMOYNALoHOQUEoMOZUMDER 10:ROHIMUDDIN oS/O-oLATEoHUSSAINoALI 11:JOHIRUZoZAMANoAHMED oS/O-oMOKSEDoALI.o o ALLoAREoR/O-oVILL-oKHOPATIAoPARToIV P.S-oSUKCHAR,oDIST-oSOUTHoSALMARAoMANKACHAR oASSAM 12:MONTAZULoHASSAN oS/O-oSAHIDURoHOSSAINoMONDAL 13:AZIARoRAHMAN oS/O-oLATEoSABULLAoSK 14:ZAMALoSHEIKH oS/O-oLATEoSOKIYALoHOQUE 15:MONIRULoISLAM oS/O-oLATEoMONTAZoMUNSHI 16:ABDULoKALAMoSK oS/O-oLATEoABDURoRAHMANoSHEIKH.o o ALLoAREoVILLAGEoKHOPATIAoPARToIII P.S-oSUKCHAR,oDIST-oSOUTHoSALMARAoMANKACHARoASSAM 17:WAHIDURoRAHAMAN oS/O-oLATEoABDULoKASHEMoSHAH.o VILL-oCHOTOoHARIPURo P.S-oSUKCHARoDIST-oSOUTHoSALMARAoMANKACHARoASSAM 18:YOUSUFoALI oS/O-oLATEoABDULoHAKIMoSK..o VILL-oBORAITARI P.S-oSUKCHAR,oDIST-oSOUTHoSALMARAoMANKACHARo ASSAM Page No.# 3/5 19:MD. ANOWARUZZAMAN SK S/O-LATE ABDUR RAHMAN SK . VILL-GOKULPUR P.S-SUKCHAR DIST-SOUTH SALMARA MANKACHAR ASSAM 20:PRESIDENT/SECRETARY DARUL ULOM KHOPATIA MADRASSA P.S-SUKCHAR DIST-SOUTH SALMARA MANKACHAR ASSAM 21:HEAD MASTER PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL KHOPATIA P.S-SUKCHAR DIST-SOUTH SALMARA MANKACHAR ASSAM For the Petitioner : Mr. A.Z. Ahmed, Advocate.

For the Respondent(s) : Ms. M. Bhattacharjee, Additional Senior Government advocate, Assam for respondent Nos.1, 3 and 4. : Ms. N. Bordoloi, Standing Counsel, Revenue and Disaster Management Department for respondent No.2.

– B E F O R E – HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH

16.06.2023

The petitioner has approached this Court by filing this writ petition styled as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition raising grievances against the respondent authorities allowing the private respondents to run their shops on the land of Public High School Khopatia. It is alleged that private respondents have illegally encroached upon the land of Public High School Khopatia and are running their shop/business over Page No.# 4/5 the land of the Public High School.

¶2The petitioner has sought for following relief(s): "Under the above circumstances, it is therefore prayed that Your Lordships would graciously be pleased to admit this petition, call for the records, and issue a Rule, calling upon the Respondents to show cause as to why a Writ in the nature of Certiorari/Mandamus and/or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction of like nature should not be issued, setting aside and quashing the impugned order dated 15.03.2022 (ANNEXURE-6) and further be pleased to direct the respondent authorities to evict the private respondents from the land of the institution and after perusal of the records, cause or cause shown if any and upon hearing the parties, Your Lordship may be pleased to make the Rule absolute and/or pass such appropriate Order/Orders or direction as Your Lordship, may deem fit and proper in the interest of justice. -AND-Further, it is also prayed that pending disposal of the Rules, Your Lordships would be pleased to stay/suspend the operation of the Impugned order dated

15.03.2022 (ANNEXURE-6) in the interest of justice."

¶3Allegations set out in the writ petition are regarding encroachment of land of a Public High School.

¶4We feel that the issues sought to be agitated through this writ petition before this Court involve significant factual aspects and thus, the petitioner is required to approach the District Level Public Land Protection Cell (PLPC) constituted for the district concerned in terms of the Government of Assam's Notification No.ECF.258737 dated 24th May, 2023.

¶5The petitioner may file a representation to the competent authority for ventilating the grievances set out in this writ petition along with a copy of this order.

¶6Upon receiving such representation, the PLPC concerned shall consider the same objectively after providing opportunity of hearing to the parties concerned and pass a Page No.# 5/5 reasoned order thereupon as per law. In case, the grievance raised by the petitioners is found to be justified, appropriate steps be taken to remove the encroachments. The exercise as directed above shall be completed within 6 (six) months from the date of submission of the representation.

¶7Needless to say that in case any adverse order is passed, the petitioner will be at liberty to take recourse of suitable legal remedy for ventilating the same.

¶8The instant writ petition (PIL) is disposed of with the above observations and directions.

JUDGE CHIEF

JUSTICE

Comparing Assistant