Mehrab vs State Of Rajasthan ... on 16 February, 2026

Author: Pushpendra Singh Bhati

Bench: Pushpendra Singh Bhati

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      HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
                       JODHPUR
                  D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 5003/2025

Mehrab S/o Shri Aarab, Aged About 30 Years, Resident Of
Tibansar, Khuiyala, Tehsil Ramgarh, District Jaisalmer (Raj.)
                                                                       ----Petitioner
                                       Versus
1.       State     Of    Rajasthan,          Through         Secretary,    Revenue
         Department,        Government            Of     Rajasthan,     Secretariat,
         Jaipur (Raj.)
2.       District Collector, Collector Office, Jaisalmer (Raj.)
3.       The Chief Executive Officer, Jaisalmer Zila Parishad,
         Jaisalmer (Raj.)
4.       Tehsildar, Ramgarh, Tehsil Ramgarh, District Jaisalmer
         (Raj.)
                                                                    ----Respondents


For Petitioner(s)            :     Mr. Sumer Singh Rathore
For Respondent(s)            :     Ms. Aditi Sharma and
                                   Mr. B.S. Sodha on behalf of
                                   Mr. N.S. Rajpurohit, AAG



     HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE PUSHPENDRA SINGH BHATI

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP SHAH

Order

16/02/2026

1. The petitioner has preferred the present writ petition

claiming the following reliefs :-

"It is, therefore, most humbly and respectfully prayed by the humble petitioner, before your kind Lordships that; this writ petition filed by the petitioners, may kindly be allowed with cost and;

(i) by an appropriate writ, order or direction, the respondents may be directed to remove the illegal encroachments from the reserved as Gair Mumkin Magra i.e. 23.4205 hectare land of Khasra No. 1488,

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9.0497 hectare land of Khasra No. 1485, 22.4578 hectare land of Khasra No. 1490, 0.9546 hectare land of Khasra No. 1489/1884, 7.5317 hectare land of Khasra No. 1491, 5.6630 hectare land of Khasra No. 1491/1886, 1.6018 hectare land of Khasra No. 1490/1885, 1.6341 hectare land of Khasra No. 1489 and 2.5079 hectare land of Khasra No. 1485/1883 of Village - Tibansar, Patwar Halka - Siyambar, revenue record area Khuiyala, Tehsil & District - Jaisalmer (Raj.) is recorded as a land reserved for Gair Mumkin Magra and villagers of village Tibansar as well as villages Chadniya Mohd. Ka Gaou, Soron ka Gaon, Marakh ka Gaon etc. may be allowed to use the same for storage of rainy water drinking water and grazing their animals/ cattle in the said land of Gair Mumkin Magra in the interest of public at large;

(ii) by an appropriate writ, order or direction, the respondents may further be directed not to allot /issue pattas in relation to the 23.4205 hectare land of Khasra No. 1488, 9.0497 hectare land of Khasra No. 1485, 22.4578 hectare land of Khasra No. 1490, 0.9546 hectare land of Khasra No. 1489/1884, 7.5317 hectare land of Khasra No. 1491, 5.6630 hectare land of Khasra No. 1491/1886, 1.6018 hectare land of Khasra No. 1490/1885, 1.6341 hectare land of Khasra No. 1489 and 2.5079 hectare land of Khasra No. 1485/1883 of Village Tibansar, Patwar Halka - Siyambar, revenue record area Khuiyala, Tehsil & District - revenue record area Khuiyala, Tehsil & District Jaisalmer (Raj.)

(iii) any other order which is in favour of public at large may kindly also be passed in the interest of justice."

2. A Division Bench of this Court in Jagdish Prashad Meena &

Ors. Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors., D.B. Civil Writ Petition (PIL)

No.10819/2018, vide order dated 30.01.2019, has directed creation of

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Public Land Protection Cell (PLPC) for rural areas in every district;

the relevant portion of the order reads as follows :-

"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 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 Divisional Officer/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

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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 396 wherein all the State Governments of the country were directed that they should prepare schemes for eviction of illegal/unauthorised occupants of the Gram Sabha/Gram Panchayat/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 show cause 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 a school, hospital, dispensary, 'shamshan', 'kabristan' or other public utility of the like nature on the land.

Observations of the Supreme Court in Jagpal Singh (supra) thus leaves no manner of doubt that removal of encroachment on all such land is a rule and regularisation an exception and that too in extremely limited number of cases, which only the Government can do by appropriate notification of the government and no other authority.

List this matter on 14.03.2019.

A copy of this order be sent to the Chief Secretary of the State of Rajasthan, Government Secretariat, Jaipur, who shall ensure compliance of this order and do the needful for creation of Public Land Protection Cell (PLPC) for rural areas. A copy of this order be also provided to Mr. Anil Mehta, learned Additional Advocate General for compliance. "

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the

petitioner may be permitted to submit a representation before the

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PLPC and respondents be directed to dispose of the same within a

period of two months.

4. Accordingly, the writ petition stands disposed of in view of

the directions issued by the Division Bench of this Court in Jagdish

Prashad Meena (supra) and the petitioner is at liberty to make a

representation before PLPC and the respondents shall decide the

same within a period of two months, from the date of receiving

the certified copy of this order, strictly in accordance with law.