SHIV NATH SETH Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In Uttar Pradesh, the Court has had several occasions noticing usurpation and illegal occupation of the properties of citizens in violation of the procedure established by law. This is another case. The Court will revert to other cases subsequently in this order.

(2.) The petitioner, Shiv Nath Seth, resident of Kerakat, Post Office Sadar, district Jaunpur, had his Bhumidhari plots No. 12/164 area 32 decimal and plot No. 2 area 3 decimal walked into by the respondents without any authority and on the property of the petitioner, the U. P. Jal Nigam, established under the U. P. Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1975, constructed a pumping set and sewerage drain under the Gomti Pollution Control Project.

(3.) The petitioner complains that after the plot had been occupied and taken, ostensibly for establishing a public project, the 'acquisition' should have been made under the procedure established by law so that the petitioner could object to the acquisition, which, if rejected, would have entitled him, as of right, to compensation. The contention, on behalf of the petitioner, is that this usurpation of his property has deprived him to object against the illegal occupation of his property and compensation both. The petitioner contends that 20 years have passed and he is getting on in years as he is 75 years old today and has been left with no choice except to accept the compensation which also is not forthcoming. The petitioner contends that his land had been possessed for a public project is not an Issue and as late as October 5, 1997 (Annexure-1 to the petition), the Tehsildar certified the occupation of the petitioner's plots for the purposes of executing a public project. The petitioner also contends that of an occupation which was made 20 years ago, the records are being certified after two decades. Then, the petitioner contends that the District Magistrate, Jaunpur, has written to the General Manager, U. P. Jal Nigam, Lucknow, by his communication of April 2. 1998 (Annexure-2 to the writ petition) that the petitioner be paid compensation in accordance with law for the 'acquisition' which has been made for executing the project under the Gomti Pollution Control Project. The petitioner submits that the District Magistrate repeated his request to the General Manager, U. P., Jal Nigam, Lucknow, by his communication of May 13, 1998 (Annexure-3 to the writ petition) that the compensation against the 'acquisition' be processed without any further delay, yet, the petitioner has not received the compensation. The petitioner further pleads that the Chief Engineer (East). U. P. Jal Nigam, Allahabad, had even been advised by a member of the Legislative Assembly, the Hon'ble Mr. Reoti Raman Singh, that the delayed compensation ought to be paid to the petitioner. This aspect is to be found in a communication (Annexure-4 to the writ petition) written by the Superintending Engineer (Ganga) to the Chief Engineer (East), U. P. Jal Nigam, Allahabad. The petitioner submits that no attention has been paid to this matter of payment of compensation to the petitioner. The petitioner further submits that irrelevant correspondence is being made and this is evidenced by the fact that the Executive Engineer, U. P. Jal Nigam, Jaunpur, is writing to the Executive Engineer, VII Region, Varanasi, and seeking clarification whether the petitioner's plot had in fact been acquired for the public project and that a report be submitted on this aspect (Annexure-5 to the writ petition).