MARWARI PANCHAYAT Vs. KHAGORIJAN ANCHALIK KRISHAK SURAKSHA SAMITI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant intra-Court writ appeal is directed against the judgment and final order dtd. 23/11/2017 passed by the learned Single Judge in WP(C) No.1896/2011 (Khagorijan Anchalik Krishak Suraksha Samiti -Vs- The State of Assam and Ors.), whereby the writ petition preferred by the respondent No.1/writ petitioner Samiti was accepted and the settlement of 75 Bighas of Village Grazing Reserve (VGR) land in favour of the appellant (respondent No.3 in the writ petition) located in Majorati VGR in Nizsahar Mouza, District - Nagaon vide the order dtd. 11/9/1970 issued by the Deputy Commissioner (respondent No.3 herein) and as approved by the State Government vide communication dtd. 6/10/1970, was interfered with and set aside.

(2.) A perusal of the impugned judgment and order would reveal that the learned Single Judge entertained the writ petition filed after nearly 40(forty) years of the settlement order accepting the plea of the respondent No.1/writ petitioner on the ground that the order of settlement never came into public domain and that the land in question was continuously being used by the villagers for grazing their household cattle. For the first time, on 29/5/2010, some people from Nagaon Town made an attempt to occupy the grazing land, whereupon a law and order situation flared up. As the appellant herein started staking claims that it was the owner of the VGR land, the respondent No.1/writ petitioner collected details and information and came across the orders of settlement of the VGR land issued in the year 1970. It was pleaded in the writ petition that as the allottees never asserted their rights upon the VGR land for nearly 40(forty) years and tried to take possession only on 29/5/2010, the writ petition came to be filed and was not a belated action.

(3.) Pertinent ground to challenge the impugned order as set out in the writ petition was that the mandatory procedure for de-reservation of VGR land, as envisaged under Rule 95A of the Rules for the Allotment of Grazing Grounds in Chapter-II of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Grazing Rules'), was disregarded. The affected villagers were not provided appropriate opportunity to file objections against the de-reservation proposal. It was pointed out that the Government also noticed illegality in the procedure by observing that the VGR land was being allotted without de-reservation and accordingly, a direction was issued to stop the settlement made in favour of the Goshala.