K C PATEL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has approached this Court praying for issuance of a writ of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction quashing and setting aside the order dated July 16, 1997 (Annex. A) passed by the Collector, Mehsana, District Mehsana, assigning 302.40 sq.mts. of land of Survey No. 2249 of Patan City. He moved this application as a pro bono publico, as a public interest litigation.

(2.) 302.40 sq.mtrs. of land belonging to City Survey No. 2249 of Revenue Survey No. 1030 paiki of village Patan, District Mehsana, is assigned to third respondent as per order at Annexure A passed by the Collector. According to the petitioner, the land is situated in prime situation of Patan City. There was some dispute in relation to this property between the Hazrat Pir Rahematullah and Kabrrastan Trust (hereinafter referred to as the Trust) on the one hand and the State Government on the other. The matter came to this Court in First Appeal No. 184 of 1978 and in Civil Application No. 1134 of 1980 in F.A. No. 184 of 1978, this Court passed an order directing maintenance of status quo. That case was decided by this Court on 10-8-1993 against the Trust. Thereafter third respondent put in an application for assignment of the land. P. K. Kotawala Industrial-cum-Technical High School, State Transport Corporation and Patan Municipality also applied for the assignment of the said land. The Collector by order dated 16-7-1997 (Annexure A) granted the assignment in favour of third respondent for a consideration of Rs. 6,50,160/-. It appears that the said amount was deposited by the third respondent on June 6, 1977. Since the claim of the petitioner - Patan Municipality - was rejected, the then President of the Patan Municipality has come up with this petition questioning the assignment in favour of respondent No. 3.

(3.) In the rejoinder affidavit filed by the petitioner, it is specifically averred that City Survey No. 2249 was vested in Patan Municipality and so the property should not have been transferred by the Collector in favour of the third respondent.