Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
Dalpat Singh vs State Of Rajasthan on 20 December, 2022
Bench: Sandeep Mehta, Dinesh Mehta
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
JODHPUR
D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 19239/2022
Dalpat Singh S/o Shri Gulab Singh, Aged About 43 Years,
Resident Of Village Dhamana, Tehsil Sanchore, District Jalore
(Rajasthan.)
----Petitioner
Versus
1. State Of Rajasthan, Through its Secretary, Department Of
Revenue, Government Secretariat, Rajasthan, Jaipur.
2. The District Collector, Jalore.
3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Sanchore, District Jalore.
4. The Tehsildar, Sanchore, District Jalore.
5. Sona Ram S/o Pratapa Ram, R/o Village Karola, Tehsil
Sanchore, District Jalore.
6. Isha Ram S/o Chhogaram, R/o Village Vodha, Tehsil
Sanchore, District Jalore.
7. Kaluram S/o Unknown, R/o Sanchore, Tehsil Sanchore,
District Jalore.
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Teja Ram
For Respondent(s) : --
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP MEHTA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DINESH MEHTA
Order
20/12/2022
The petitioner has approached this Court by way of this writ
petition (PIL) with the following prayers:-
"(i) The impugned action of the private
respondents Nos.5 to 7 while making
encroachment upon the land falling in Khasra
No.639 (Old Khasra Nos.783 and 780)
admeasuring 5.0500 Bighas in Village Dhamana,
Patwar Halka Dhamana, Tehsil Sanchore, District
(2 of 4) [CW-19239/2022]
Jalore and the impugned action of the respondent
authorities while not removing the said
encroachment, may kindly be declared illegal,
arbitrary, unjust and so also violative of provisions
of Constitution of India as well as Rajasthan Land
Revenue Act.
(ii) the respondent authorities may kindly be
directed to remove the illegal encroachment from
the land falling in Khasra No.639 (Old Khasra
Nos.783 and 780) admeasuring 5.0500 Bighas in
Village Dhamana, Patwar Halka Dhamana, Tehsil
Sanchore, District Jalore and the private
respondents may kindly be dispossessed from the
land in question."
Having heard and considered the submissions advanced by
counsel representing the petitioner and, having gone through the
material available on record, we are of the firm view that the
petitioner has available to him a suitable remedy for ventilating
his grievances by virtue of the Division Bench Judgment of this
Court in the case of Jagdish Prasad Meena & Ors. Vs. State of
Rajasthan & Ors. passed in D.B. Civil Writ Petition (PIL)
No.10819/2018 decided on 30.01.2019 wherein this Court
directed as below:-
"This Court is inundated with large number of writ
petitions, styled as public interest litigation, from
almost all the Districts of the State, with
allegations of encroachment over the pasture land/
land of 'johad', 'talab'/ river/river bed/public
way/Shamshan/Kabristan etc. In all such petitions,
common allegation is that despite repeated
complaints/representations to the concerned
revenue officers, no steps are taken by them to
remove the encroachment. This results in number
of writ petitions being filed by the
complainants/representationists before this Court.
This Court has been passing orders in such matters
requiring the respective District Collectors to
examine the factual content of the allegations and
take steps to remove the encroachments so as to
secure such land.
In order therefore to provide a pan-Rajasthan
solution to this ever persisting problem, we deem
it appropriate to direct the Chief Secretary of the
State to devise a permanent mechanism, which
(3 of 4) [CW-19239/2022]
should be operational in every District of the State
where the concerned District Collector should be
required to periodically notify for the information of
the general public to lodge the
complaints/representations with regard to such
encroachments with a specially designated Public
Land Protection Cell (for short 'PLPC') for rural
areas. The PLPC should be headed by District
Collector and function under his direction and
supervision. The PLPC shall get such
complaints/representations enquired into by
deputing concerned Sub
DivisionalOfficer/Tehsildar/Naib Tehsildar so as to
verify whether or not such encroachments have
actually taken place on such land. If the
allegations are found to be substantiated,
appropriate steps in accordance with law be
immediately taken for removal of the
encroachments and appropriate penal action be
also taken against the trespassers. The
complaints/representations received in the PLPC
should be decided by passing speaking order,
informing the respective
complainant/representationist about the action
taken. This would obviate the necessity of such
complainants/ representationists approaching this
Court directly by way of public interest litigation. If
this practice is put in place, this Court would not
be inclined to directly entertain such public interest
litigation or would do so only in the event of
inaction on the part of the concerned PLPC. The
PLPC aforementioned shall also keep in view the
guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in Jagpal
Singh & Others Vs. State of Punjab & Others,
(2011) 11 SCC 396wherein all the State
Governments of the country were directed that
they should prepare schemes for eviction of illegal/
unauthorised occupants of the Gram
Sabha/GramPanchayat/Poramboke/ Shamlat land
and the same must be restored to the Gram
Sabha/Gram Panchayat for the common use of
villagers of the village. The said scheme should
provide for the speedy eviction of such illegal
occupants, after giving them a showcause notice
and a brief hearing. It was further held therein
that long duration of the illegal
encroachment/occupation of land or huge
expenditure in making construction thereon or
political connections of trespassers are no
justification for regularising such illegal occupation.
Regularisation should be permitted only in
exceptional cases where lease has been granted
under some government notification e.g. to
landless labourers or members of Scheduled
Castes/Scheduled Tribes or where there is already
(4 of 4) [CW-19239/2022]
a school, hospital, dispensary, 'shamshan',
'kabristan' or other public utility of the like nature
on the land.
Thus, the petitioner is relegated to submit a representation
to the District Collector concerned, who shall assign the matter to
the PLPC constituted under the directions of this Court.
The PLPC shall have a thorough enquiry conducted into the
representation of the petitioner in light of the directions given by
this Court in the case of Jagdish Prasad Meena (Supra) and
decide the same within a period of six months from the date of
submission thereof.
In case, any adverse order is passed, the petitioner shall be
at liberty to challenge the same as per law.
The writ petition is disposed of in the above terms.
(DINESH MEHTA),J (SANDEEP MEHTA),J
35-Divya/-
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