Gauhati High Court
Zuchibeni Lotha And Ors. vs State Of Nagaland And Ors. on 13 January, 1994
Equivalent citations: AIR1995GAU80, AIR 1995 GAUHATI 80, (1994) 1 GAU LR 380
ORDER W.A. Shishak, J.
1. The petitioners who are thirty (30) in all have approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution impugned order of cancellation of settlement of land issued to the petitioners by Deputy Commissioner, Wokha, on 10th September, 1992 consequent on receipt of W/ T Message from the Chief Secretary dated 4-9-1992.
2. The petitioners are stated to be landless persons. They applied for allotment of lands in their favour in Wokha Town. The Assistant Town Planner was requested by S.D.O. Wokha for site clearance so as to enable the authority to recommend the cases of the petitioners for settlement. The Assistant Town Planner wrote to the Deputy Commissioner regarding clearance certificates. It was stated that he had verified and checked the available lands in the Town and he duly certified that the lands thus spotted/verified by him were free from encumbrances. Different plots were located in different colonies of the Town.
3. On 7th May, 1992, Land Settlement Board of Wokha District held a meeting for consideration of various applications for allotment of land. It is stated that at the relevant time when applications were made to the authority, there were no standardised application forms available with the authority at Wokha. The land settlement board recommended cases of thirty six (36) applicants including those of the present petitioners.
4. In response to the recommendation of the Land Settlement Board, the Deputy Secretary, Land Revenue Department wrote to the Deputy Commissioner, Wokha vide letter No. LR-41/92-93 dated 10-5-1992 and conveyed the approval of the Government for allotment of land to the petitioners and others. On receipt of such approval, the petitioners were given the respective plots of lands and as called upon, they all paid Rs. 100/- (Rupees one hundred) each and also complied with the conditions imposed in the settment order. It may be stated that allotment orders were issued by the Deputy Commissioner on receipt of the approval from the Government, on 28-7-1992. Several conditions were laid down in the settlement order. The first condition was that each allottee should take possession of the land after the receipt of this order. At the time of filing of this petition, it was contended that the petitioners had already taken possession of their respective plots. After hearing the parties it was ordered that status quo in regard to possession of individual plots of land should continue as on 4-12-1992. That order has not been resisted on behalf of the Government subsequent to the passing of that order on 4-12-1992.
5. On 4-9-1992, the Chief Secretary of Nagaland sent a wireless message to the Deputy Commissioner, Wokha stating that earlier order of allotment issued by the Deputy Commissioner on 27-7-1992 was cancelled. As per direction of the Chief Secretary, Deputy Commissioner, Wokha issued another order on 10th September, 1992 cancelling the earlier order of allotments as stated above.
6. It is contended on Dehalf of the petitioners that no notice was issued to the petitioners before the impugned order of cancellation was issued, nor was any opportunity given to the petitioners of being heard before the impugned order of cancellation was issued. It is contended that the impugned order was issued in violation of principle of natural justice. The relevant portion of the proceedings of the Land Settlement Board of Wokha which met on 7th May, 1992 is as follows:--
"The Land settlement Board of Wokha District held a meeting on the 7th May, 1992 in the office room of the Deputy Commissioner, Wokha to examine and consider for allotment of Government waste land to the deserving individual applicant. After thorough examination and deliberations, the Board decided to recommend few applications out of many applications, the names of the under mentioned individuals for allotment to the Government for approval. The mentioned sites are within the Government acquired area. All the sites recommended for allotment are not suitable for Govt. construction, have been duly verified and found free from any encumbrances.
The Land settlement Board accepted the various application Forms as the office at Wokha has not standardised application Forms. The Board recommended to Govt. for approval."
7. As is evident from the proceedings, the petitioners were recommended for allotment of lands. It appears by Government Notification dated 23rd November, 1979, Settlement Boards for various Districts were duly constituted. It is contended on behalf of the petitioners that competent persons authorised in this behalf met as Land Settlement Board on 7th May, 1992.
8. I have heard Ms. C. Jajo, learned counsel for the petitioners as well as Mr. I. Jamir, learned Senior Government Advocate at length. It is submitted by Ms. Jajo that allotment was made by a competent authority after going through procedures established in this regard and therefore the manner in which the cancellation of such allotment order sought to be done in the present case is un-sustainable. I have carefully gone through the affidavit filed on behalf of the Government. The Deputy Commissioner, Wokha himself was a member of the Settlement Board. The recommendation was made by a competent authority duly constituted by the Government of Nagaland. Availability of plots of lands as certified by the Assistant Town Planner also goes to show that before recommendation was made, lands had been identified and verified. It also appears to me that the Deputy Commissioner, Wokha would have no reason to object to the approval which had already been conveyed to him by the Deputy Secretary, Land Revenue Department on receipt of recommendation from the duly constituted land Settlement Board of which as stated above, the Deputy Commissioner himself was a member. I have carefully examined the W/T Message dated 4-9-1992 issued by the Chief Secretary, Nagaland. This message by which the settlement was sought to be cancelled is devoid of any reason. Apparently the petitioners were not given any opportunity of being heard before such order of cancellation was issued. I must state here that once settlement orders were issued, right was accrued to the petitioners and such right cannot be divested except in due process of law.
9. The averment of the petitioners that they are landless persons has not been resisted on behalf of the Government. It has also not been resisted that they took possession of their respective plots of land consequent on issuance of settlement orders to them. It may also be stated that as mentioned in the proceeding of the Settlement Board meeting held on 7th May, 1992, the Board accepted the various application forms as the office at Wokha have no standardised application forms. Assuming that there are prescribed forms and that the petitioners had not applied using the prescribed forms, the Government of Nagaland would not be authorised to cancel settlement once settlement has been issued by the competent authority on the recommendation made by the duly constituted competent authority.
10. In the result, the petition is allowed. The impugned order of cancellation issued by the Chief Secretary on 4-9-1992 and the consequent order issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Wokha on 10th September, 1992 are quashed.
I pass no order as to costs.