Orissa High Court
Sabita Tandia And Others vs State Of Odisha And Others .... Opposite ... on 1 November, 2021
Author: B. P. Routray
Bench: B. P. Routray
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) No.9731 of 2014
Sabita Tandia and others .... Petitioners
M/s. B. S. Tripathy and associates, Advocates
-versus-
State of Odisha and others .... Opposite Parties
Mr. D. K. Mohanty, AGA
CORAM:
THE CHIEF JUSTICE
JUSTICE B. P. ROUTRAY
ORDER
01.11.2021 Order No.
16. 1. The four Petitioners claiming to be the residents of village Darlipali under Police Station Bhasma in the District Sundargarh filed the present petition on 13th May, 2014 claiming that they have not been paid compensation for the acquisition of land of Ac.32.36 decimal in Lephripara Tahasil in the District Sundargarh. Pursuant to the Land Acquisition Notification dated 29th April, 2013 under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, Petitioner No.1 claimed to have lost land admeasuring Ac.1.74 decimal, Petitioner No.2 Ac.2.20 decimal, Petitioner No.3 Ac.1.60 decimal and Petitioner No.4 Ac.0.94 decimal. It was stated that despite a notice being issued to the authorities on 26th April 2014, no amount had been paid. It was claimed that all the Petitioners belong to the Scheduled Tribe (ST).
2. When the petition was listed on 25th June, 2014, notice was directed to be issued to Opposite Parties. Pursuant thereto, a counter Page 1 of 9 affidavit was filed by the Land Acquisition Officer, Sundargarh on behalf of Opposite Parties 2 and 3 on 29th October, 2014. Inter alia it was stated in paras 7 and 8 as under:
"7. That in reply to the averments made in paragraph 1 of the writ petition it is humbly submitted that it is a fact that during the process of land acquisition for establishment of Darlipalli Super Thermal Power Project (DSTPP) by National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. (NTPC Ltd.) in village Darlipali of Lephripada Tahasil in Sundergarh district, the Land Acquisition Officer has acquired land for the purpose of establishment of DSTPP by NTPC Ltd. But this is not a fact that the present petitioners are the owner of any land or they were in possession over any portion of the land at any point of time. The field enquiry conduct by R.I., Darlipali reveals that the suit land claimed by the petitioners is a Government land and has been acquired by DSTPP by NTPC Ltd., It was lying barren and the suit land is coming under the territorial boundary of DSTPP by NTPC Ltd. The land claimed to be the land of the petitioner is false, fabricated and motivated with an intention to grab the government money.
8. That in reply to the averments made in paragraph 2 of the writ petition it is humbly submitted that it is a fact that Notification u/s.4(1) of Land Acquisition Act was issued on 29.4.2013 to acquire Ac.32.36 dec. of land for establishment of DSTPP by NTPC Ltd. During the time of verification for 4(1) notification only RORs were verified and taken into consideration. But later, when complaints raised by the villagers, the Collector, Sundargarh ordered for enquiry of the RORs with relevant records. During the course of enquiry, it came to the notice that, the ROR produced by the petitioners were not genuine and were forged. Hence there were no such records which would give raise to prepare/issue such RORs. Hence these irregularities compelled the administration to look into the matter thoroughly. After careful observation, it was detected that, the petitioners in Sl. No.1 to 4 have fraudulently manufactured/prepared some fake case nos. to grab the Government money as land Page 2 of 9 acquisition compensation. No such records relating to their claim are available in the Tahasil office which would establish their claims. Hence, Collector, Sundargarh ordered for seizure of the amount and stop the payment of compensation against those khatas vide his letter No.508 dated 20.5.2014."
3. It was further contended in Paras 10 and 11 as under:
"10. That it is humbly submitted that the claim of the petitioner made in paragraph 5 of the writ petition that the land have been acquired, belong to them is totally false and malafide. The entire land claimed by the petitioners from Sl.No.1 to 4 is Government land and RORs are fully fraudulently created to place before the Land Acquisition Authority and hoodwink the administration in order to grab away the Government money. In this regard, Collector, Sundergarh has wrote a letter to the Government in Revenue and Disaster management Department in his letter No.567 dated 20.5.2014 and No.693 dated 22.08.2014 to obtain permission for filing criminal cases against the persons involved in the scam. For better appreciation, copies of the letters dated 20.5.2014 and 22.8.2014 are annexed herewith as Annexure A/2 Series for kind perusal of the Hon'ble Court.
11. That in reply to the averments made in paragraph 6 of the writ petition it is humbly submitted that while the fraud so created was detected after complain and the matter came to the light, the Land Acquisition Officer, Sundergarh was directed by the District Administration to stop the payment of the present petitioners. It is humbly submitted that the above petitioners have made a conspiracy to grab the Government money by preparing some forged RORs with false lease case number but on scrutiny no such case records are fond in the Tahasil office which proved that the intention of the above petitioners was ill motivated."
4. A separate counter affidavit was filed by Opposite Party No.1 viz., the Collector, Sundergarh where again it was mentioned that a Page 3 of 9 field enquiry conducted by the Revenue Inspector, Darlipali revealed that the suit land claimed by the Petitioners was in fact a Government land, which has been acquired for DSTPP by the NTPS Ltd. It was specifically stated that the averments of the Petitioners were false, fabricated and motivated with the intention to grab the Government money. It was pointed out that the RORs enclosed with the petition were forged documents. It was further averred in Paras 8 and 11 of this affidavit as under:
"8. That in reply to the averments made in paragraph 2 of the writ petition it is humbly submitted that it is a fact that Notification u/s.4(1) of Land Acquisition Act was issued on 29.4.2013 to acquire Ac.32.36 dec. of land for establishment of DSTPP by NTPC Ltd. During the time of verification for 4 (1) notification only RORs were verified and taken into consideration. But later, when complaints raised by the villagers, the Collector, Sundergarh ordered for enquiring of the RORs with relevant records. During the course of enquiry, it came to the notice that, the ROR produced by the petitioners were not genuine and were forged. Hence there were no such records which would give raise to prepare/issue such RORs. Hence these irregularities compelled the administration to look into the matter thoroughly. After careful observation, it was detected that, the petitioners in Sl.
No.1 to 4 have fraudulently manufactured/prepared some fake case nos. to grab the Government money as land acquisition compensation. No such records relating to their claim are available in the Tahasil office which would establish their claims. Hence, Collector, Sundergarh ordered for seizure of the amount and stop the payment of compensation against those khatas vide his letter No.508 dated 20.5.2014.
xxx xxx xxx
11. That in reply to the averments made in paragraph 6 of the writ petition it is humbly submitted that while the fraud so Page 4 of 9 created was detected after complaint and the matter came to the light, the Land Acquisition Officer, Sundergarh was directed by the District Administration to stop the payment of the present petitioners. It is humbly submitted that the above petitioners have made a conspiracy to grab the Government money by preparing some forged RORs with false lease case number but on scrutiny no such case records are found in the Tahasil office which proved that the intention of the above petitioners was ill motivated."
5. A rejoinder affidavit was filed by Petitioner No.4, Sachidananda Naik, trying to put the blame for manipulation of the records on the Opposite Parties. It was admitted that an F.I.R. had been lodged against the Petitioners, the then Tahasildar and record keepers. It was maintained that the RORs issued to the Petitioners were genuine and the allegation that they were trying to grab government money was denied.
6. An additional counter affidavit was filed by the Collector, Sundergarh in which inter alia it was averred as under:
"xxx. When the survey had started in both the villages, a group of people including some Govt. officials of the Tehsil manufactured some fraudulent R.O.Rs in the year 2010-11 showing the year of encroachment as 2005-06 in the RORs. Although at the time of the inquiry by the ADM, no Encroachment case record was traceable in the Tehsil office, but subsequently 8 of such Encroachment Case Records were found out after thorough search in the Tahsil Office. However in 66 numbers of cases (who are not among the Awardees) there is no existence of any case record. On further enquiry into the fake RORs, it is noticed that, i. The E.C. numbers mentioned in the case records have not been entered in E.C. register maintained at the Tehsil Office.Page 5 of 9
ii. The case records have been manufactured putting the last date of the year i.e. 31.12.2005 in order to maintain the case numbers serially. But however the mastermind had forgotten to record the cases in E.C. register of the Tehsil.
iii. Rent and cess have not been paid by the encroachers till 2010-11 though it was shown that the Govt. land was settled in their favour in the year 2006.
iv. Their names do not exist in the Tenancy Ledger maintained at the R.I. Circle Office.
v. The correction of records in all cases have been made on dated 25.08.2006 in computer for which the computerized patta has been shown with a mark 'D' (i.e. Duplicate) as because the original Govt. Khata was not corrected as on the date when the land was settled in their favour. As such total 74 fraudulent 'D' pattas were detected which have already been cancelled."
7. A separate counter affidavit to the rejoinder was filed by the Land Acquisition Officer on 16th July, 2016. pointing out that settlement of land in favour of Petitioner No.4 was done showing the year 2005-06 "by fraudulent means." It has been specifically stated that the Petitioner No.4 is not a landless person and he was a resident of village Jhargaon, where he had his ancestral property. It is claimed that the said Petitioner acted "through his master mind who was the then A.S.O.-cum-Addl. Tehsildar, the king pin of this scam (who) with the help of other fellow workers of the Tehsil office had managed such manipulation." It was then stated in the said affidavit as under:
"The Tehsildar and Addl. Tehsildar of Lephripara did not produce the encroachment register 2005 in spite of several letters issued and approaches by District Office as well as Page 6 of 9 Police investigating officer. The letter of present Addl. Tehsildar addressed to Addl. District Magistrate, Sundargarh vide his letter No.1498 Dt. 24.05.2016 the xerox copy of which is annexed as Annexure-C/3. Similarly the Tehsildar, Lephripara vide his letter No.1667 Dt.06.06.2016 had denied the entries of petitioners in the encroachment register of 2005 which is annexed as Annexure-C/4. Besides that Addl. Tehsildar also intimated the Police investigating officer that the case register relating to encroachment for 2005 is not available vide his letter No.2085 Dt. 19.11.2015 the copy of which is annexed as Annexure-C/5. The availability of the said register came to the notice of the Collector, Sundargarh in the Court hall of the Hon'ble High Court on 22.06.2006, that one Sri Prafulla Chandra Bipra, Ex. A.S.O.-cum-Addl. Tehsildar had obtained xerox copy encroachment register of 2005 through R.T.I. on March 2015. However, after returning from the High Court, the said hidden register was recovered from Sri Kulamani Patel, Senior Clerk of Lephripara Tehsil. It is seen that Sri Prafulla Chandra Bipra, the Ex. A.S.O.,- cum-Addl. Tehsildar had given the pate certificate on the said encroachment register of 2005 as Tehsildar, Lephripara. He is not the authorized person to handle with the encroachment cases and register also. There is no signature of Tehsildar, Lephripara. While going through the register it is observed that the then A.S.O.-cum-Addl. Tehsildar Sri Prafulla Chandra Bipra had given the page certificate on the face of the register on Dt.06.05.2005, when the regular Tehsildar Sri Mirdha Toppo was very much present in the Office on that day. But the encroachment register entries started from 17.08.2005 i.e. much after 26.05.2005. The disciplinary actions are being initiated against the present Tehsildar and Addl. Tehsildar for such mischievous and suspicious activities. It is pertinent to mention that the Addl. Tehsildar had given an encroachment register to the police for seizure for the year 2002 to 2004 by affixing a slip on the front page that the register relates to the year 2005 Vol-1 and encroachment register for 2005 i.e. from (SL. No.1-317) as Vol-2. In this context it is humbly submitted that in order to know the real truth, the then Tehsildar of that period Sri Page 7 of 9 Mirdha Toppo who is now working as B.D.O., Jhumpura in Dist. of Keonjhar was summoned. He has stated in his affidavit Dt. 25.06.2016 that he had never seen the said encroachment case register which was supplied through R.T.I. Further, he had denied that he had never settled any agriculture land in Village Darlipali in favour of any one. His statement was submitted through affidavit before the A.D.M., Sundargarh. The xerox copy of such affidavit is annexed as Annexure-C/6."
8. It was stated that an FIR has been lodged against the present Petitioners and 70 other fake ROR holders.
9. Meanwhile, this Court by an order dated 20th July, 2016 directed the Special Director General of Police, CID (CB), Cuttack to depute an Officer not below the rank of a Superintendent of Police to investigate into the matter and furnish a report in a sealed cover. Pursuant to this Court's order dated 20th August, 2015 an affidavit has also been filed by the OIC, Lephripada Police Station on 16th November, 2015 setting out the details of the FIR that has been registered against the Petitioners and others for manipulation of the record.
10. The net result is that the present petition which started as a claim for land acquisition compensation, has ended with unraveling a huge scam, in which several persons including the authorities have indulged in falsification of records in order to fraudulently claim land acquisition compensation.
11. The Court considers it appropriate, instead of continuing to monitoring investigation of the criminal case, to direct that it be taken to its logical end. The question of granting any of the reliefs Page 8 of 9 as prayed by the Petitioners does not arise in the above background. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed.
(Dr. S. Muralidhar) Chief Justice ( B.P. Routray) Judge M. Panda Page 9 of 9