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Gujarat High Court

Ghasura Motamiya Muradkhan vs State Of Gujarat Through Secretary & ... on 9 September, 2014

Author: J.B.Pardiwala

Bench: Akil Kureshi, J.B.Pardiwala

           C/WPPIL/245/2012                                 ORDER




           IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

                     WRIT PETITION (PIL) NO. 245 of 2012

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          GHASURA MOTAMIYA MURADKHAN....Applicant(s)
                          Versus
    STATE OF GUJARAT THROUGH SECRETARY & 30....Opponent(s)
================================================================
Appearance:
MR. D. P. KINARIWALA, ADVOCATE for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR VANDAN BAXI, AGP for the Opponent(s) No. 1
MR ANKIT Y BACHANI, ADVOCATE for the Opponent(s) No. 3
MR MB RANA, ADVOCATE for the Opponent(s) No. 4 - 24 , 26 - 31
NOTICE SERVED for the Opponent(s) No. 2 , 4 - 31
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           CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI
                  and
                  HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA

                              Date : 09/09/2014


                                ORAL ORDER

(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA) By this writ application in the nature of public interest litigation, the petitioner, a resident of village Malan, Taluka Palanpur, District Banaskantha, has questioned the legality and validity of few discretionary allotments of plots to 28 odd individuals residing in the village.

Shorn of facts, the case of the petitioner appears to be that the land bearing survey No.740/2 of village Malan is a gaucher land. The land was treated as gaucher land vide order of the Collector dated 13 th January 1954 and such order culminated in entry No.645 in the record of rights.

C/WPPIL/245/2012 ORDER It appears that in the year 2010, the authorities by way of auction alloted plots to 28 individuals admeasuring 83 sq. mtrs. The details of such allotments could be gathered from Annexure C to the petition.

Mr.Kinariwala, the learned advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that the authorities concerned could not have made such allotments of plots and that too of gaucher land. Mr.Kinariwala submitted that it is very doubtful whether any such auction proceedings were at all conducted for the purpose of allotment.

Having heard the learned advocates for the parties and having gone through the materials on record, we find that in the year 1990, to be precise vide order dated 19th April 1990, passed by the Collector, 5 acres of gaucher land forming part of survey No.740/2 was ordered to be resumed from the Panchayat. It also appears that at the relevant point of time, such resumption of 5 acres of gaucher land was not objected to by the Panchayat. In exercise of powers under section 98 of the Gujarat Panchayats Act, land admeasuring 5 acres from survey No.740/2 was deleted from the head of gaucher.

The allotment of plots which is the subject matter of challenge forms that part of five acres of land which was deleted from the head of gaucher. Therefore, so far as the first grievance voiced by the petitioner is concerned, that the land is a gaucher land does not appear to be correct. Secondly, the allegations that the allotments were made without any valid auction proceedings also does not appear to be correct. It appears from the materials on record that the auctions were conducted on a particular date, the amount deposited has also been stated including the receipt numbers issued in favour of the purchasers of the said plots.

C/WPPIL/245/2012 ORDER We may take notice of the fact that these allotments are in favour of people hailing from poor strata of the society. The allotments are not so vast. Apart from that, the allotments were made almost four years back. The petitioner being a resident of the same village was expected to approach this Court at the earliest. Almost after a period of two years from the date of allotment, he has questioned the legality and validity of the same. By now, the people must have already settled in their houses constructed on the said plots. It is well settled that the principle of delay and laches would even apply in a public interest litigation and in a given case, even if the Court finds some irregularity, it may refuse to interfere in exercise of its writ jurisdiction for the purpose of doing substantial justice.

In the overall consideration of the entire case, we do not find any patent illegality in the allotment of the plots which warrants any further inquiry in the matter. Had it been a large scale fraud or scam of allotment of lands of huge parcels, we would have definitely considered the same.

For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any merit in this writ application and being devoid of any merit, we reject the same accordingly. No costs.

(AKIL KURESHI, J.) (J.B.PARDIWALA, J.) (vjn) Page 3 of 3