RAJENDRA RAY Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed for directing the respondents to stop illegal construction of road over the homestead land of the petitioners appertaining to Khata No. 453, Khesra No. 1513 situated at village-Subhai South Tola, which has been purchased by the petitioners on 17/8/1974. It is further prayed to direct the respondents to remove the road constructed over the land of the petitioners.

(2.) The brief fact of the case, according to the petitioners, is that the land in question was purchased by the forefather of the petitioners on 17/8/1974 whereafter, the same was mutated in the name of the forefather of the petitioners and after the death of the father of the petitioners, the said land has been mutated in the name of the petitioners, and they are paying rent as also revenue receipts are being issued in their name. It is further submitted that after family partition, the land in question was measured on 16/3/2018 and it was found that land to the tune of 10 dhur situated in Khata No. 453, Khesra No. 1513 has been forcibly encroached by the Mukhiya and a road has been constructed over the same, which was objected to by the petitioners but the construction of road over the land of the petitioners did not stop leading to the petitioners filing an application before the Collector, Vaishali at Hajipur on 17/3/2018, for removal of the said road made over the private land of the petitioners, however, no action was taken and instead the boundary wall and bathroom as also the septic tank of the house of the petitioners were destroyed and demolished.

(3.) Per contra, the learned counsel appearing for the State, by referring to the counter affidavit filed in the present case by the District Magistrate, Vaishali at Hajipur, in pursuance to the order of this Court dtd. 16/8/2022, directing him to enquire into the matter and file a counter affidavit after ascertaining the actual facts of the case, has submitted that an Enquiry Committee was constituted by the District Magistrate, Vaishali at Hajipur vide his letter dtd. 20/8/2022, whereafter, the matter was enquired into and spot verification was made in presence of the petitioners along with Anchal Amin and Rajasva Karamchari, whereupon it has been concluded that the road in question does not exist on the homestead land of the petitioners, which also stands corroborated from the report of the Anchal Amin and the sketch map of the area in question, which have been annexed as Annexure-C/1 and Annexure-C/2, respectively to the counter affidavit filed by the District Magistrate, Vaishali. The learned counsel for the respondent-State has also referred to the joint enquiry report submitted by the Circle Officer, Hajipur, Deputy Collector Land Reforms, Hajipur and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Hajipur dtd. 23/8/2022 to submit that no road has been constructed on the land purchased by the petitioners and in fact the brick soling road was constructed over the land of one Sudama Devi, which is situated towards the North of the land of the petitioners. The learned counsel for the petitioners has not been able to controvert the aforesaid fact.