Decided On: 27Th December vs State Of H.P. & Others
2022 Latest Caselaw 11566 HP

        IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA
                                           CWP No.1386 of 2019
                              Decided on: 27th December, 2022
    ____________________________________________________________
    Vinod Kumar Guleria                             .....Petitioner




                                                                         .

                                              Versus

    State of H.P. & others                       .....Respondents





    _____________________________________________________________
    Coram
    The Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.A. Sayed, Chief Justice
    The Hon'ble Ms. Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua, Judge




    1 Whether approved for reporting?

    ______________________________________________________
    For the petitioner:        Mr. R.L. Chaudhary, Advocate.

    For the respondents:                      Ms. Ritta Goswami, Additional

                                              Advocate General.
    A.A. Sayed, Chief Justice (Oral)

The petitioner has filed this petition seeking the

following substantive reliefs:-

"(i) That writ of mandamus may kindly be issued, directing the respondent authorities to construct the

remaining half portion of ambulance road from Pipal Chowk to Twambda Nala through Harijan Basti consisting of 25 to 30 families, within a time bound

manner, so that the poor people can also get the benefit of ambulance road in case of casualties and illness, since half of the said ambulance road has already been constructed upto the house of the petitioner by spending approximately Rs.50 Lac from the Government funds, but the remaining ambulance road is not being constructed inspite of forest clearance and inspite of the factum that petitioner is

Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

ready to give the land for the construction of said road and some portion of the said road will go through the existing Khachar rasta.

(ii) That writ of mandamus may kindly be issued, directing the respondent authorities to restrain heavy vehicles to be plied upon the ambulance road in

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order to avoid the damage to the said road and all

the hindrances for plying the ambulance frequently should also be removed, since huge public fund has already been spent upon the construction of said

road for the facility of general public."

2. It is an admitted position that about 70% of the

road has now been constructed and for the construction of

remaining 30% of the road, the land of other co-sharers of the

father of the petitioner would be required.

3. The learned Additional Advocate General has

invited our attention to the compliance affidavit dated

20.08.2022. Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the said compliance

affidavit read as follows:-

"3. That the Ambulance road from Pipal Chowk,

Devdhar to house of petitioner has already been constructed. The Petitioner wants to extend this road via Naun (Natural water source) to Pipal chowk,

Devdhar (i.e., zero point). As per the proposal of petitioner, this road is proposed to be constructed through Khasra no.152, 99, 98, 364, 193, 360 and

359. Khasra no.152, which is private land jointly owned by father of petitioner and other 9 co-sharer. Khasra No.99 is Aabdi Deh, khasra no.98 and 360 are marked as Gohar (i.e., cattle's path), khasra no.193, 364 and 359 are forest land. For the construction of this proposed road, land of khasra no.152 has to be used and the same is needs to be

donated to Gram Panchayat. In this context it is submitted that the local residents of village Manthala and owner of Private land have submitted objection in the office of deponent, wherein they have clearly opposed the construction of said road and even to donate the land for this construction. A copy of

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statements is annexed herewith as Annexure D-II.

Sh. Padam Guleria has claimed in his statement that this portion of land is in his possession since last 40 years. Sh. Padam Guleria and other co-share namely

Sh. Jagdish Kumar & Sh. Balbir Singh are not agreed to donate this land. A copy of statements is annexed herewith as Annexure (D-III, D-IV & D-V). Further, khasra no.193, 364 and 359 are forest

land, so this portion of land needs FCA clearance first.

4. The construction of the proposed road can be started only after the provisioning of land for the said

purpose. However as is clear from the inspection

report by Deputy Director cum Project Officer DRDA Mandi HP, it would entail donation of private land & diversion of forest land. Till this matter is resolved, it would be difficult to proceed further as the co-

sharers namely Sh. Padam Singh, Sh. Balbir Singh & Sh. Jagdish Guleria have denied on record for donating the said land. The written statements of Sh. Padam Guleria, Sh. Balbir singh & Sh. Jagdish

Kumar is annexed herewith as Annexure (D-III, D-IV & D-V)."

4. Inasmuch as it is now an admitted position that

the remaining 30% of the road cannot be constructed unless

the co-sharers of the family of the petitioner are willing to

donate their lands to the Gram Panchayat. We direct that as

and when the petitioner is able to prevail upon the said

co-sharers to donate their land to the Gram Panchayat for the

purpose of construction of the remaining 30% of the road, the

petitioner may communicate the same to the Authorities

concerned and the Authorities, on being satisfied that the

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lands have been donated, shall take appropriate steps for

construction of the balance 30% of the road, if there is no

other impediment in constructing the balance 30% of the

road.

5. So far as the contention of the petitioner that the

balance 30% of the road be directed to be constructed

through the government land, after taking necessary forest

clearances, we are not inclined to issue such writ of

mandamus. We, however, leave it open for the petitioner to

make a representation to the respondents in this regard, if so

advised. If such representation is preferred by the petitioner,

the same shall be decided by the respondents expeditiously.

6. With these observations, the writ petition to stand

disposed of, so also the pending miscellaneous application(s),

if any.

                                                   (A.A. Sayed)
                                                   Chief Justice


                                             (Jyotsna Rewal Dua)
    December 27, 2022                              Judge
              Mukesh