Gujarat High Court
Patel Madhavbhai Devyanand vs State Of Gujarat & 6....Opponent(S) on 16 September, 2014
Author: J.B.Pardiwala
Bench: Akil Kureshi, J.B.Pardiwala
C/WPPIL/83/2013 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
WRIT PETITION (PIL) NO. 83 of 2013
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PATEL MADHAVBHAI DEVYANAND....Applicant(s)
Versus
STATE OF GUJARAT & 6....Opponent(s)
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Appearance:
HCLS COMMITTEE, ADVOCATE for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR SHAILESH C SHARMA, ADVOCATE for the Applicant(s) No. 1
MR. UTKARSH SHARMA, ASSTT.GOVERNMENT PLEADER for the Opponent(s) No. 1
MR CR MISHRA, ADVOCATE for the Opponent(s) No. 7
MR HS MUNSHAW, ADVOCATE for the Opponent(s) No. 5 - 6
MR JIGAR M PATEL, ADVOCATE for the Opponent(s) No. 2 - 3
NOTICE SERVED for the Opponent(s) No. 1 , 4
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA
Date : 16/09/2014
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA) By this writ-application in the nature of a public interest litigation, the petitioner, a resident of the village Changa, Dist. Anand has a grievance to redress as regards the allotment of gaucher land in favour of the respondent No.2 and also regarding the construction made in a pond, namely Kandoda, situated at village Changa, Taluka Petlad, Dist. Anand.
To put it briefly, the case of the petitioner is that the Collector, way back in the year 1999, allotted gaucher land in favour of the respondent No.2, a Society, for the purpose of construction of an Engineering College. According to the Page 1 of 3 C/WPPIL/83/2013 ORDER petitioner, the Collector ought not to have allotted the gaucher land.
It appears from the affidavit-in-reply filed by the Residential Additional Collector, Dist. Anand, that the respondent No.2, Charotar Moti Satavish Kedavani Mandal preferred an application for allotment of land, as the Society wanted to construct an Engineering College. The Collector, vide order dated 23rd December, 1999, de-notified a part of the gaucher land vesting with the Panchayat and resumed it with the Government. Thereafter, vide order dated 23rd May, 2000, the District Development Officer granted permission for the land to be used for non-agricultural purpose.
It also appears from the materials on record that the Engineering College has been constructed and is functioning. As regards the grievance of the petitioner regarding utilization of the pond is concerned, the stance of the Collector is that there is no pond on any land bearing survey No. 562 in village Changa, as asserted by the petitioner. According to him, the area which is sought to be projected in this petition as a pond is nothing but a low lying area and during the monsoon, water gets accumulated at that particular place.
We enquired with Mr. Sharma, the learned AGP, whether there is anything to indicate that the pond he is referring to in the petition is a notified water body. Mr. Sharma submitted that there is nothing to show that the pond he is referring to in the petition, situated in survey No. 562 in village Changa, is a notified water body.
Page 2 of 3C/WPPIL/83/2013 ORDER From the above, it could be seen that the allotment of land was made in the year 1999. This petition has been filed in the year 2013. The Society has also completed the construction of the Engineering College. It appears that considering the fact that the Society wanted to start an Engineering College, which could be termed as a public purpose, a portion of the gaucher land was deleted from its head, and the land was resumed from the Government, which ultimately came to be assigned to the Society. In the wake of all these developments, it is too late for the petitioner to contend that the land on which the Engineering College has been constructed, should be resumed by the Government.
For the foregoing reasons, we see no good ground to interfere. This application is accordingly rejected. No costs.
(AKIL KURESHI, J.) (J.B.PARDIWALA, J.) Mohandas Page 3 of 3