KAILASH PASAD Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) At the request of learned counsel for the petitioners, the defects, as pointed out by the office, are ignored.

(2.) The present writ petition has been filed for quashing the entire proceeding of Public Land Encroachment Case No. 01 of 2022-23 initiated by the Circle Officer, Kuru (the respondent no. 6) as well as the notices issued to the petitioners by the said respondent initially under Sec. 3 and subsequently under Sec. 6(2) of the Bihar (now Jharkhand) Public Land Encroachment Act, 1956 (in short, "the Act, 1956") whereby they have been directed to remove the alleged encroachment from the land in question.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that some of the lands appertaining to old plot no. 813(P) under old Khata No.-01 corresponding to new plot nos. 937 and 1001 under new Khata No. 422 of Mouza-Kuru were purchased by one Smt. Geeta Devi wife of Bijay Prasad Sahu whereas lands appertaining to old plot no. 813(P) corresponding to new plot nos. 942 and 1003 were purchased by one Smt. Rajeshwari Devi from one M/s. Chotanagpur General Trading Company Limited through its Director-Bhuramal Tibrewal vide registered sale deeds dtd. 21/1/1975. Moreover, other lands appertaining to old Khata no.-01, old plot no. 813 corresponding to new Khata No.-422, new plot nos. 965 and 946 were purchased by Ram Prasad Sahu and Ram Pratap Sahu both sons of Late Ram Chander Sahu from M/s. Chotanagpur General Trading Company Limited through its Director-Bhuramal Tibrewal vide registered sale deed dtd. 25/1/1972. After death of Geeta Devi, her heirs permitted some of the petitioners to occupy part of the lands purchased by Geeta Devi for construction of residential houses over the same by entering into agreements. The petitioner no. 6 and the wife of petitioner no. 7 purchased respective lands in question from Ram Prasad Sahu and Ram Pratap Sahu vide registered sale deeds dtd. 26/6/2013 and 23/5/2014 respectively. It is further submitted that the respondent no. 4 issued notices as contained in Form-I under Sec. 3 of the Act, 1996 to the petitioners on 1/4/2022 alleging that they had encroached public land while constructing houses over the same. Pursuant to the said notices, the petitioners appeared before the respondent no. 4 and produced relevant documents relating to the land in question. They also made oral submission before the respondent no. 4 stating the entire facts, however they did not file any written reply due to ignorance. Subsequently, the petitioners were issued notices by the respondent no. 4 in Form-II under Sec. 6(2) of the Act, 1956 whereby they were called upon to remove the alleged encroachment within 15 days. Surprisingly, the said notices did not contain any date except the notice issued to the petitioner no. 1- Kailash Prasad which contained the date of issuance of the said notice as 12/7/2022, however the same was served to him on 29/8/2022 at 12:25 p.m.