BIRENDRA RAM Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed for quashing the notice dtd. 6/3/2018, issued by the respondent no. 4 i.e. the Circle Officer, Madanpur, District- Aurangabad in Encroachment case no. 24 of 2017-18, in the name of the father of the petitioners who has already died about 20 years back, for demolition of the residential house of the petitioners on account of the same being an encroachment under the provisions of the Bihar Public Land Encroachment Act, 1956. The petitioners have also prayed for quashing of the order dtd. 2/1/2018, passed in Case no. 214 of 2017-18, by the learned Additional Collector Aurangabad i.e. the respondent no. 3, whereby and whereunder the Jamabandi of the land appertaining to Khata no. 52, Plot no. 263 situated in Circle Madanpur, DistrictAurangabad, PS 856 has been cancelled.

(2.) The brief facts of the case, according to the petitioners, are that the land in question which is situated at Mauza Darbhanga, Khata no. 52, Plot no. 263, Area 61 decimal, earlier recorded as Gairmazarua Mallik land in Revisional Survey, was settled in the name of the father of the petitioners namely Ram Das Chamar in the year 1970-71 vide Case no. 510 of 1970-71 and Jamabandi was created as also the land receipt was issued, whereafter the petitioners have been in continuous possession of the said land in question. It is submitted that one Kaushlendra Kumar Ram had filed a petition before the respondent no. 4 for measurement of his land, whereafter the measurement report was submitted, however being dissatisfied with the same, the said Kaushlendra Kumar Ram had filed a revision application before the Commissioner, Magadh Division, Gaya, who passed an ex-parte order dtd. 8/7/2017 and directed the authorities to cancel the Parcha and take possession of the land in question, however, subsequently, the said Kaushlendra Kumar Ram as also the petitioners had entered into a compromise and settled the dispute, whereafter a compromise petition was also filed before the learned Commissioner, Magadh Division, Gaya but no action was taken thereon. It is the further case of the petitioners that the respondent no. 3 without hearing the petitioners, has cancelled the Jamabandi in an arbitrary manner, by an order dtd. 2/1/2018, whereafter a notice has been issued to the petitioners for removal of the encroachment, after initiating encroachment proceedings vide Encroachment case no. 24 of 2017-18.

(3.) The respondents have filed a counter affidavit stating therein that the land in question was settled in favour of the deceased father of the petitioners for cultivating the same for his livelihood, however, upon inquiry, it has been found that the father of the petitioners had constructed a house over the land in question, hence the learned Commissioner, Magadh Division, Gaya, by an order dtd. 8/7/2017, has directed for cancellation of the Jamabandi in question, whereafter Jamabandi Cancellation Proceeding Case no. 214 of 2017-18 was initiated by the respondent no. 3 and vide order dtd. 2/1/2018, the Jamabandi of both the petitioners and the aforesaid Kaushlendra Kumar Ram pertaining to the land in question, have been cancelled and then Encroachment Proceedings have been initiated for the purposes of removal of the encroachment made by the petitioners on the land in question.