SARVODAYA CHARITABLE TRUST Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition is filed being aggrieved by the action of the respondents by which the petitioner has been deprived of his right to pursue religions tradition and ritual at the place being survey no.261 admeasuring 28773 sq.mtr. situated at mouje Talepuraa, Taluka Palanpur pursuant to the order of the District Development Officer ('DDO' for short) Palapur dtd. 22/9/2021 in Case No.2 of 2021 along with notice dtd. 3/8/2021, and prayed to quash and set aside the said order and issue direction to decide the issue of allotment of the disputed land in favour of the petitioner for the purpose of performing the religious practice.

(2.) The brief facts leading to filing of this petition are such that the present petitioner is a Charitable Trust, the Deputy District Development Officer ('Dy.D.D.O.' for short) made a communication to the Taluka Development Officer ('TDO' for short) on 18/10/2017 stating that the land being survey no.261 admeasuring 287742 sq.mtrs. situated at mouje Talepuraa may not be allotted to any individual or organization since some objections have been received from one Sadiqbhai Husainbhai Sheikh; that on 6/11/2017, the District Magistrate, Banaskantha wrote a letter to the Chief Officer, Banaskantha stating that the disputed land may not be allotted to any individual or any organization since some objections have been received from one Shaikh Majidbhai. In the same way, the Mamlatdar, Palapur, on 22/11/2017 made a communication to Sadiqbhai Sheikh that no demand pertainting to the said disputed land has been received as yet; that the DDO, Banaskantha made a communication on 28/11/2017 to the TDO that the disputed land may not be allotted to any individual organization. It is further submitted that Sadiq Huseinbhai Sheikh made a communication to the Collector, Banaskantha on 19/12/2017 stating that the said disputed land be allotted to them for purpose of performing the religious ceremony (Tajia); that on 10/9/2018, the petitioner charitable trust wrote a letter to TDO stating that the disputed land be allotted to them for performing religious ceremony (Tajia); that on 11/11/2018, the DDO, Banaskantha wrote a letter to TDO stating that an application has been received from Sarvodaya Charitable Trust and that decision may be taken in that regard, in accordance with the rules; that pursuant to the above mentioned communication, the village panchayat has issued notice under Sec. 105 of the Gujarat Panchayats Act to the Doodh Utpadak Sahakari Mandli, Talepuraa; that the TDO wrote a letter to the Sarpanch, village panchayat Talepuraa on 28/11/2018 asking them to stall the illegal construction which is carried out on the disputed site and accordingly the village panchayat has issued the notice to the Doodh Utpadak Sahakari Mandli Talepuraa to stall the construction; the petitioner has therefore resisted any construction put up on the said piece of land and therefore the petitioner has also availed the legal remedy by filing Regular Civil Suit No.106 of 2018 before the learned Principal Senior Civil Court, Palanpur on 12/12/2018 for permanent injunction; that during this process, on 22/9/2021 surprisingly the DDO, Palanpur had passed the order by setting aside the resolutions passed by Talepurra Gram Panchayat and therefore being aggrieved by the action of the DDO, the present petition is filed

(3.) Heard learned advocates for the parties.