Mahant Ram Ashish Das v. State of Chhattisgarh
Case brief
What is this about?
Infructuous-writ-petition dismissal: petitioner (temple Mahant) sought mandamus directing SDO-cum-Registrar Public Trust, Raipur to initiate proceedings under the Chhattisgarh Public Trust Act, 1951 pursuant to Additional Collector, Raipur order dated 20.08.2024; State produced covering memo dated 24.01.2025 showing the SDO had already initiated proceedings on 14.01.2025; Court (Bibhu Datta Guru, J., HC Chhattisgarh, 06.02.2025) found the petition infructuous and dismissed it. Keywords: Chhattisgarh Public Trust Act 1951; public trust proceedings; SDO Raipur; Additional Collector order 20.08.2024; covering memo 24.01.2025; infructuous writ petition; WPC 289/2025 and companion WPCs 306, 310, 311, 313, 330, 450 of 2025.
What did the court decide?
Since the SDO had already drawn a proceeding on 14.01.2025 pursuant to the Additional Collector, Raipur's order dated 20.08.2024 (placed before the Court under covering memo dated 24.01.2025), the relief sought — a direction to the SDO to initiate proceedings under the Chhattisgarh Public Trust Act, 1951 — had already been effected, and the writ petition had become infructuous.