Anju Bora and Anr v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

ORDER

25.09.2024

Page No.# 3/5 Heard Mr. AK Hannan, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners. Mr. D Gogoi, the learned counsel appears on behalf of the respondent No.1, Mr. P Nayak, the learned counsel appears on behalf of the respondent Nos.2, 3 and 6 and Mr. S Baruah, the learned Junior Government Advocate, appears on behalf of the respondent Nos.4 and 5.

¶2The instant writ petition is taken up for disposal at the motion stage itself, taking into account that similar issues have already been decided by this Court.

¶3It is the case of the petitioners herein that the petitioners are patta holders of a plot of land covered by Dag No.593 of KP Patta No.671 under Revenue Village No.2, Japorigog, Dispur under Mouza Beltola in the district of Kamrup(M) Guwahati. The petitioners intend to build a residential apartment over the said plot of land by availing loan from the financial institutions and by investing their own savings for the residential purpose. Under such circumstances, the petitioners, in order to construct the residential apartment have sought for permission before the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (for short, the GMDA) and had paid the requisite application processing fee. In that regard, the

petitioners

have

also

been

provided

a

file

being No.GMC/W37/0305/26102022 in the Office of the Commissioner, Guwahati Municipal Corporation.

¶4Subsequent, thereto, the petitioners were verbally instructed to pay an amount @ 2% of the total project cost of the building as 'Forest Royalty' and, as such, the petitioners being aggrieved has approached this Court. Page No.# 4/5

¶5It is the further case of the petitioners that the respondent authorities could not have demanded payment of any forest royalty from the petitioners. On enquiry being made it could be found that the direction so verbally made for payment of the forest royalty is on the basis of a communication issued by the Joint Secretary to the Government of Assam, Mines and Minerals Department dated 02.03.2023, whereby it was mentioned that the Notification dated

07.10.2021 which was issued thereby to bring into effect the Assam Minor Mineral Concession (Amendment) Rules 2021 (for short, 'the Rules of 2021') would also be applicable against the private agencies. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners submitted that vide the order dated

24.09.2024, this Court had already set aside the communication dated

02.03.2023 which is the basis, upon which the verbal demand is being made by the GMC authorities.

¶6This Court has also perused the judgment and order dated 24.09.2024 passed in WP(C)No.4085/2024, wherein this Court had set aside the communication dated 02.03.2023 and further directed the GMC authorities to proceed with the consideration of the building application filed by the petitioners without insisting upon the forest royalty. Taking into account that the petitioners herein are similarly situated, it is the opinion of this Court that the petitioners are also entitled to the similar reliefs as provided to the petitioners in WP(C)No.4085/2024. Accordingly, this Court observes and directs as follows:

(i). The Urban Local Bodies cannot impose royalty upon the private person/entity in respect to private constructions carried out and Page No.# 5/5 consequently cannot also insist on payment of royalty as a condition for issuance of permission to construct and to carry out construction on the basis of the permission so granted.

(ii). This Court issues a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the GMC/GMDA not to insist upon payment of royalty upon the petitioner as a condition for granting permission to construct or carrying out construction pursuant to the permission so granted.

¶7With the above observation(s) and direction(s), the instant writ petition stands disposed of. No costs.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010195392024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/4919/2024o ANJUoBORAoANDoANRo WIFEoOFoLATEoTANUoRAMoBORA,o RESIDENToOFoHOUSEoNO.o05,oRAJGARHoBIHUTOLI,o GUWAHATI,oDIST.-oKAMRUP(M),oGUWAHATI-781007,o ASSAM. 2:oPARTHANAoBORA oDAUGHTERoOFoTANUoRAMoBORA o RESIDENToOFoHOUSEoNO.o05 oRAJGARHoBIHUTOLI o GUWAHATI oDIST.-oKAMRUP(M) oGUWAHATI-o781007 o ASSAMo VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo5oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEo GOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,o FORESToANDoENVIRONMENToDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-6. 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFo ASSAM oHOUSINGoANDoURBANoAFFAIRSoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-o781006. 3:THEoJOINToSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoASSAM oDEPARTMENToOFoHOUSINGoANDoURBANoAFFAIRS Page No.# 2/5 DISPUR GUWAHATI-6. 4:THE PRINCIPAL SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM MINES AND MINERALS DEPARTMENT DISPUR GUWAHATI-781006. 5:THE JOINT SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM MINES AND MINERALS DEPARTMENT DISPUR GUWAHATI- 781006. 6:THE COMMISSIONER GUWAHATI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BHANGAGARH GUWAHATI Advocate for the petitioner(s): Mr. AK Hannan Advocate for the respondent(s): Mr. D Gogoi For respondent No.1 Mr. P Nayak For respondent Nos.2, 3 and 6 Mr. S Baruah Junior Government Advocate, Assam B E F O R E HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH