Allahabad HC directs action against officials taking illegal possession of land

ALLAHABAD: Allahabad High Court has directed the state’s chief secretary to ensure that action be taken against the officials who take possession of private land from owners illegally without adhering to the statutory provisions.

The court emphasized that before taking possession of land from its owner, relevant provisions of law and rules must be strictly adhered to.

Disposing of a writ petition filed by Gayatri Devi and two others, a division bench comprising Justice Shashi Kant Gupta and Justice Pankaj Bhatia observed that although right to property is no longer a fundamental right, it still is a constitutional right.

It will be borne in mind that though right to property is no longer a fundamental right, it is not only a constitutional right but also a human right and no one can be deprived of his or her property arbitrarily, the division bench said while taking a serious note of the frequent incidents where private land of citizens was taken into possession without acquisition or giving any compensation to them.

The court further observed, “We are constrained to record our strong displeasure on the trend of taking possession of private land of citizens without acquisition or giving any compensation to them. Such practice is unsound and should be deprecated in no uncertain language. State authorities for the purpose of widening road are taking possession of private land without acquisition or giving any fair compensation as provided under the relevant law. Before taking the possession, compensation as provided under the relevant statute has to be paid by the authorities. Under no circumstances the state should either acquire land or take possession in contravention of the Right to Fair Compensation Act or any other relevant statute or prescribed procedure under the law.”

Emphasizing on the rights of the land owners, the court further observed, “The act of the authorities concerned is in violation of Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 300A of the Constitution of India. Under Article 300A of the Constitution of India, no person can be deprived of his property except by authority of law. Article 300A proclaims that a person cannot be deprived of his property merely by executive fiat without any specific legal authority or without support of law made by a competent legislature.”

Lastly, the court directed that a copy of this order be sent to the chief secretary of the state for strict compliance. The court also directed the registrar general of this court to circulate this order to all the commissioners, district magistrates as well as vice-chairmen of development authorities in the state.

The petitioners in the present case had alleged that without acquiring the land lawfully, the respondent state authorities are constructing public road over the land of the petitioners.

The court directed the petitioner to file a representation in terms of the government order (GO) dated May 12, 2016, before the committee — as constituted under the said GO and headed by the additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) — who will examine the matter and submit report to the district magistrate concerned within a period of two months and who will proceed in accordance with the said GO and pass final orders within a period of 30 days thereafter.

This judgment was delivered on May 9.