Co-Operative Society & Anr vs Santosh Mondal & Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 2784 Cal

   D/L
Item No. 7
20.04.2023
 KOLE
                               MAT 419 of 2023
                                    With
                             IA No. CAN 1 of 2023

                       Rahamatpur Anchal Fishermans
                         Co-operative Society & Anr.
                                  -Vs.-
                          Santosh Mondal & Ors.


             Mr. Atis Kumar Biswas,
             Mr. Amit Singh,
             Mr. Jyoti Agarwal,
                                                       ... for the appellants.

             Mr. Dhruba Mukherjee, Sr. Adv.
             Mr. Asraf Mondal,
             Mr. A. Kr. Barman,
                                       ... for the petitioners/respondents.

In Re: CAN 1 of 2023:-

This is an application for leave to prefer appeal

against a judgment and order dated February 8, 2023,

whereby the writ petition of the private respondents herein

being WPA 9063 of 2022 (Sri Santosh Mondal & Ors.-vs.-

The State of West Bengal & Ors.), was disposed of. The

present applicants were not parties to the writ petition.

They say that they are aggrieved by the said order which

directs handing over possession of a water body to the writ

petitioners who claim to be the owners thereof. The

applicants say that they hold the water body on lease under

the State Government and use it for the pisciculture. Hence,

they are aggrieved by the order.

All such submissions of the applicants are disputed by

learned Advocate for the writ petitioners. The writ

petitioners say that the present applicants have absolutely no

right, title or interest in respect of the water body in

question. No document has been produced by them in

support of their claim.

Learned Advocate for the applicants says that the

relevant documents were washed away in the floods of 2000.

This is also disputed by learned Advocate for the writ

petitioners.

We, however, see from records that in a writ petition

filed in the year 2019 being WP No. 7666 (W) of 2019,

concerning the same water body, the presence of the

applicant-cooperative society was noted by a learned Single

Judge in an order dated April 18, 2019.

Having considered the facts and circumstances of the

case, we are of the view that the applicants may have

something to say in respect of the water body in question.

Accordingly, we grant the applicants for leave to appeal.

CAN 1 of 2023 is, thus, disposed of.

In Re: MAT 419 of 2023:-

The appellants were not impleaded as respondents by

the writ petitioners. For the reasons indicated above, we are

of the view that the appellants herein should be heard by the

learned Single Judge before the writ petition is finally

disposed of. We grant liberty to the appellants to make an

application before the learned Single Judge for being added

as parties. If such an application is made, upon notice to the

writ petitioners, the learned Single Judge shall decide the

same in accordance with law.

The order under appeal is set aside and the matter is

remanded to the learned Single Judge for fresh

consideration and disposal.

We have not gone into the merits of the case at all.

The learned Single Judge having determination in the matter

is requested to decide the writ petition in the manner the

learned Judge may deem fit and proper after hearing the

applicants in the event they make an application for addition

of party.

The appeal is, accordingly, disposed of.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order be

supplied to the parties, if applied for, as early as possible.

(Apurba Sinha Ray, J.) (Arijit Banerjee, J.)