Jitendra Nath Banerjee vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 4711 Cal

S/L 26
03.08.2023
Court. No. 29
Suvayan
                            WPA 5983 of 2015

                          Jitendra Nath Banerjee
                                    Vs.
                      The State of West Bengal & Ors.

                Mr. Shamit Sanyal
                Ms. Priyakshi Banerjee
                                                        ...for the petitioner.

                1.     Writ petitioner is represented by his learned

                Advocate, Ms. Priyakshi Banerjee.

                2.     None appears on behalf of State in spite of service.

                3.     From the materials as placed before this Court and

                after hearing Ms. Banerjee, learned Advocate for the writ

                petitioner it appears to this Court that a registered deed of

                lease dated February 23, 1984 was executed by and

                between the respondent No. 1/State and the writ

petitioner for occupying six acres of land, particulars of

which has been mentioned in the schedule of the said

deed of lease for the purpose of setting up refractory

works and that the writ petitioner shall hold the schedule

mention property as a lessee of the said land subject to

payment of rent of Rs. 2,376/- per annum. The said lease

deed also contains a renewal clause for successive 30

years subject to payment of increased rent as per the

provisions of law.

4. Immediately before the expiry of the term of the

said registered lease deed dated February 23, 1984 the

writ petitioner approached the respondent/State for

renewal of the said lease for another period of 30 years

and the respondent authorities found that the such lease

may be renewed in favour of the present writ petitioner as

a lessee and the annual rent for the proposed lease was

fixed to the tune of Rs. 1,87,200/-. The writ petitioner

was aggrieved with the quantum of annual rent as fixed

by the respondent authorities and accordingly he has

submitted representation before the respondent

authorities on 14.11.2014 and also subsequently stating

inter alia that the fixation of annual rent as made by the

respondent authorities is excessive, without any basis and

defective in view of the fact as per the assessment of the

BL & LRO the valuation of the leasehold land was

assessed to the tune of Rs. 6,44,598/- whereas as per

valuation fixed by District Registrar, Bankura the

valuation of the land has been assessed to the tune of Rs.

46,80,000/-.

5. On the basis of such representation and also on the

basis of an RTI application, BL & LRO Barjora, Bankura

has forwarded a gist of the value assessment statement for

renewal of long term lease in respect of the said leasehold

property which according to the petitioner is not

justifiable in the eye of law and, therefore, the writ

petitioner has approached this Court for issuance of writ

of mandamus against the respondent authorities for

cancellation and/or rescinding the relevant memo dated

10.11.2014 whereby the present writ petitioner was

directed to pay annual rent of Rs. 1,87,200/- for the

proposed renewal of lease.

6. After hearing the learned Advocate for the writ

petitioner and on perusal of the entire materials as placed

before this Court, this Court finds that since the present

writ petitioner is aggrieved with the quantum of annual

rent as fixed by the respondent authorities for the

leasehold land and since there lies a prima facie

discrepancy with regard to the valuation made by the BL

& LRO, Barjora and District Registrar, Bankura in respect

of the self-same leasehold land, justice would be sub-

served if the respondent No. 5/The Block Land & Land

Reforms Officer, Barjora, Post Office and District -

Bankura directed to consider and revisit the

representations as made by the writ petitioner on

14.11.2014 and 06.02.2015 as preferred before the

respondent No. 4.

7. In view of such, the respondent No. 5/ The Block

Land & Land Reforms Officer, Barjora, Post Office and

District - Bankura is directed to consider the instant writ

petition as a fresh representation of the writ petitioner

provided the respondent No. 5 is served with a copy of the

instant writ petition together with all annexures within 8

weeks from the date of passing of this judgment.

8. The respondent No.5/ The Block Land & Land

Reforms Officer, Barjora, Post Office and District -

Bankura is directed to give an opportunity of hearing

either to the writ petitioner or to his learned Advocate in

support of the representation as mentioned above and

thereafter shall pass a reasoned order within 30 days

from the date of conclusion of hearing before him.

9. It is further directed the result of such

representation shall have to be communicated to the writ

petitioner by the respondent No. 5 either by speed post or

through email within a fortnight from the date of passing

of the reasoned order by the respondent No. 5.

10. With the aforementioned observation, the writ

petition being WPA 5983 of 2015 is disposed of.

11. Parties to act on the server copies of this order.

12. Urgent photostat certified copies of this order, if

applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance

with all the necessary formalities.

(Partha Sarathi Sen, J.)