Rajeshwar Das and 61 Ors v. The State of Assam and 2 Ors

ORDER Date : 22-07-2024

Heard Mr. A.C Sarma learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Ms. P Mahanta, learned counsel for respondent No.1 and Ms. S Sarma learned Govt. Advocate, Assam appearing on behalf of respondent Nos.2 and 3. By a Notification dated 18.01.1972, published in the Assam Gazette in its issue dated 18.03.1972, the establishment of Page No.# 8/10 Gramshabha for Adarsha Kahibari Gramdan Samabai Samittee in Chamaria Mouza, Chaygaon Revenue Circle was notified under Section 5[1] of the Assam Gramdan Act, 1961. According to the petitioners, 62 [sixty-two] in nos., the Gramsabha was constituted with total 500 Bighas of land and as many as 185 nos. of families were allotted plots of land measuring 2 Bighas 3 Kathas each. By the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation [Amendment] Act, 2022, the Assam Gramdan Act, 1961 has been repealed. As per the said Act, the lands vested in the Assam State Gramdan Board under the Assam Gramdan Act, 1961 [since repealed] shall be vested to the State Government and such land shall be free from all encumbrances and shall be disposed of in the same manner as any other land disposed of by the Government as per the provisions of Section 12A of the Amendment. After repeal of the Assam Gramdan Act, 1961, the State Government in the Revenue [Reforms] and Disaster Management Department had issued an Office Memorandum dated 12.10.2022 wherein a provision is made for settlement of the land earlier allotted under the Assam Gramdan Act, 1961 [since repealed] to eligible occupiers though online mechanism of Mission Basundhara. The petitioners have claimed that they are eligible occupiers who should be allotted the lands which were earlier under the Gramshabha of Adarsha Kahibari Gramdan Samabai Samittee as under the Gramdan Act, 1961 [since repealed], they were earlier allotted the plots of land measuring 2 Bighas 3 Kathas each. It has been stated that the petitioners have accordingly submitted applications for settlement of such plots of land in their favour through online mechanism of Mission Page No.# 9/10 Basundhara and receipt of such applications were duly acknowledged vide Annexure-9 series. Despite submission of the applications by the petitioner for settlement by acknowledging their receipt of same in April, 2023, the respondent authorities are found sitting over the matter without disposing of the applications. Hence, the writ petition. The respondent Deputy Commissioner has filed an affidavit and admits that the petitioners had already raised their grievances before the concerned Deputy Commissioner as recorded hereinabove. The Deputy Commissioner had further taken a stand that the petitioners had submitted their application in a wrong format and therefore their applications could not be considered. It is the further stand of the Deputy Commissioner that the petitioners ought to have made their applications under the Settlement Service Mission Basundhara 2 given under the Revenue & Disaster Management, Department Office Memorandum No.RDM-12011 (41)/1/2022-LR-REV-Revenue & DM/1 dated 12/12/2022 relating to Gramdan land. The Deputy Commissioner had also taken a stand that in similar circumstances, other citizens who applied for settlement in due format had already been granted settlement after verification. In view of the aforesaid and as agreed to by the learned counsel for the parties, this writ petition can be disposed of by directing the petitioners to either correct the defects in the application as raised by the Deputy Commissioner or they may file fresh application before the Deputy Commissioner raising their claim for settlement. Page No.# 10/10 On such application being filed, the Deputy Commissioner shall do the needful as per the extant norms and pass necessary orders after verification of the claim of the petitioners. The entire exercise shall be carried out within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the fresh application/corrected application of the petitioners. It is needless to say that till such settlements are done, the possession of the petitioners over the land in question should not be disturbed. At this stage Ms. P Mahanta has raised an issue that applications need to be made in online mode as the petitioners had wrongly filed their application and correction may not be possible. Be that as it may, this court is of the view that, in the given facts of the present case, defect in application format cannot be a valid ground for rejection of the claim, if the claim made is genuine, inasmuch as settlement is a continuous process. The fact also remains that technology incorporated is for better service to the citizens and not to deprive from legitimate claim. With the aforesaid directions and observations, the writ petition stands closed. Parties to bear their own cost.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/10 GAHC010271632023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/7078/2023o RAJESHWARoDASoANDo61oORSo AGEDoABOUTo71oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoPHUKANoDAS 2:oMAHENDRAoKARMAKAR oAGEDoABOUTo70oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoMAHADEVoKARMAKAR 3:oKALIPADoBISHWAS oAGEDoABOUTo72oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoKALACHANoBISHWAS 4:oJOGENoKARMAKAR oAGEDoABOUTo66oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoTHAKURDASoKARMAKAR 5:oGOPALoRAI oAGEDoABOUTo80oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoKEDARIoRAI 6:oKHAGENoKARMAKAR oAGEDoABOUTo62oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoTHAKURDASoKARMAKAR 7:oNARENoKARMAKAR oAGEDoABOUTo67oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoMAHADEVoKARMAKAR 8:oRAICHANDoBISHWAS oAGEDoABOUTo70oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoRAMCHARANoBISHWAS 9:oPAGOLoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo72oYEARSo PageoNo.#o2/10 S/O-oLATEoBIHARIoMANDAL 10:oJANTUoRAI S/O-oLATEoBIPINoRAI 11:oNITAIoSUTRADHAR oAGEDoABOUTo62oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoHARILALoSUTRADHAR 12:oNANIGOPALoRAI oAGEDoABOUTo71oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoMADHUoRAI 13:oLITTILoBISHYA oAGEDoABOUTo68oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoANANTAoBAISHYA 14:oBOLORAMoBISHWAS oAGEDoABOUTo69oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoNITAIoBISHWAS 15:oGIRINDRAoMANDAL S/O-oLATEoKHOKAoMANDAL 16:oINDRAoSARKAR oAGEDoABOUTo61oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoHRIDAYoSARKAR 17:oSANTOSHoMANDAL S/O-oLATEoBIPINoMANDAL 18:oUPENoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo70oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoKHOKAoMANDAL 19:oGOPALoSARKAR oAGEDoABOUTo65oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoBISHWAMBARoSARKAR 20:oJOGESHoBASU oAGEDoABOUTo78oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoKHETRAoMOHANoBASHU 21:oSITAoNATHoSARKAR oAGEDoABOUTo76oYEARSo PageoNo.#o3/10 S/O-oLATEoDURGACHARANoSARKAR 22:oSMTIoMINATIoRANIoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo72oYEARSo D/O-oLATEoPRANNATHoMANDAL 23:oGOLAPIoBISHWAS oAGEDoABOUTo68oYEARSo D/O-oLATEoNIRANANDAoBISHWAS 24:oREBOTIoMANDAL S/O-oLATEoDUGACHARANoMANDAL 25:oSMTIoDRAUPADIoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo65oYEARSo W/O-oPAGOLoMANDAL 26:oSMTIoPARVATIoRAIoKARMAKAR oAGEDoABOUTo42oYEARSo D/O-oSRIoNEPALoRAIo(UNSOUND)o W/O-oSRIoARADHANoKARMAKAR 27:oNITYANANDAoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo40oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoGOVINDAoMANDAL 28:oCHANDRAKANTAoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo50oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoMADANoMOHANoMANDAL 29:oRANJOYoBISHWAS oAGEDoABOUTo35oYEARSo S/OoOFoLATEoGOPALoBISHWAS 30:oNIMAIoMANDAL S/O-oOFoLATEoSUKHLALoMANDAL 31:oSMTIoPURNIMAoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo62oYEARSo W/O-oOFoDURGANATHoMANDALo D/O-oRAMCHARANoMANDAL 32:oBIRENoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo48oYEARSo S/O-oOFoLATEoMADHUoMANDAL PageoNo.#o4/10 33:oGOVINDAoSARKAR oAGEDoABOUTo50oYEARSo S/O-oOFoLATEoHARIPADoSARKAR 34:oKASHINATHoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo40oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoSANTOSHoMANDAL 35:oBHEEMoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo42oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoMADANoCHANDRAoMANDAL 36:oNIVASHoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo65oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoHARIDASoMANDAL 37:oNARAYANoSARKAR oAGEDoABOUTo50oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoBABULALoSARKAR 38:oPRAFULLAoSARKAR S/Oo-oLATEoHRIDAYoSARKAR 39:oBALLAVoRAI oAGEDoABOUTo50oYEARSo S/Oo-oLATEoMADHUoRAI 40:oGOPALoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo55oYEARSo S/Oo-oLATEoSABITRIoMANDAL 41:oNILKAMALoBISHWAS oAGEDoABOUTo40oYEARSo S/Oo-oLATEoEKADASHIoBISHWAS 42:oTARACHANoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo50oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoKATHUoMANDAL 43:oSMTIoALOBALAoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo50oYEARSo DAUGHTER-IN-LAWoOFo CHARANIoBALAoMANDAL 44:oSMTIoRANUoBISHWASoSARKAR oAGEDoABOUTo40oYEARSo W/O-oGOVINDAoSARKARo PageoNo.#o5/10 D/O-oLATEoBALAIoBISWAS 45:oDIPENoDASoHIRA oAGEDoABOUTo48oYEARSo S/Oo-oLATEoRAMESHoHIRA 46:oSMTIoSANTIoBALAoDAS oAGEDoABOUTo65oYEARSo W/O-oRAJESHWARoDASo DAUGHTERo-IN-LAWoOFo LATEoPHUKANoKOSH 47:oBIRENDRAoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo62oYEARSo S/Oo-oLATEoKALABATIoMANDAL 48:oSMTIoPURNIMAoMANDALoSARKAR oAGEDoABOUTo50oYEARSo W/O-oDULALoSARKARo D/O-oLATEoGADUoMANDAL 49:oSMTIoDURGAoBALAoKARMAKAR W/O-oSRIoJOGENoKARMAKARo DAUGHTER-IN-LAWoOF-o LATEoTHAKURDASoKARMAKAR 50:oSUSHILoMANDAL oAGEDoABOUTo45oYEARSo S/Oo-oLATEoSUDHUoMOHANoMANDALo GRANDSONoOFoLATEoKALACHANoMANDAL 51:oPANKUoSARKAR oAGEDoABOUTo40oYEARSo S/Oo-oLATEoGOPALoSARKARo GRANDSONoOFoLATEoTRINATHoSARKAR 52:oNEPALoRAI oAGEDoABOUTo52oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoSATISHoRAIo BROTHERoOFoLATEoGOPALoRAI 53:oKARNAoRAI oAGEDoABOUTo48oYEARSo S/O-oLATEoGOPALoRAIo NEPHEWoOFoLATEoANILoRAI 54:oLOBAKUMARoSARKAR PageoNo.#o6/10 oAGEDoABO