Disposed

Chandrawati Singh v. The State Of Jharkhand Through Chief Secretary And Ors.

Jharkhand HC17 Feb 2021WPC/4943/2017

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Single-judge Bench of Jharkhand High Court dismissed a writ petition seeking issuance of a rent receipt for land claimed by the petitioner's deceased husband. The Court found insufficient material to direct issuance as the petitioner failed to prove the land settlement pre-1946, doubting the genuineness of mutation records.

What did the court decide?

No specific relief granted; petitioner directed to approach administrative authority with relevant documents.

Chandrawati Singh Vs The State Of Jharkhand Through Chief… — Land Acquisition | Jharkhand HC (2021)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P.(C) No. 4943 of 2017

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Chandrawati Singh ..... … Petitioner

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Versus

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The State of Jharkhand through Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand, Dhurwa, Ranchi.

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Deputy Commissioner, Ramgarh. 3. Circle Officer, Ramgarh. . …. …. Respondents

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CORAM : HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR

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-----For the Petitioner : Mr. Sanjeev Thakur, Advocate Mr. Ranjan Prasad Sinha, Advocate For the Respondents : Mr. Amrit Raj Kisku, A.C. to S.C. VII --------

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09/17.02.2021 The present writ petition is taken up today through Video conferencing.

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2. The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the respondent authorities to issue rent receipt in favour of the petitioner for the land appertaining to Khata No. 01, Plot no.68 situated at Mouza-Naisaray, Thana No.145, District–Ramgarh measuring an area of 0.85 acre (hereinafter to be referred as the ‘said land’).

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3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the said land was purchased by the deceased-husband of the petitioner through registered sale deed dated 9^th December, 1972. Thereafter he filed an application before the Circle Officer, Ramgarh for mutating the said land in his name which was registered as Mutation Case No. 91 of 1973-74 and subsequently the mutation of the said land was done in favour of the deceased-husband of the petitioner. He paid the rent of the said land to the government till the year 2008-09 and the rent receipts were also issued in his name. Thereafter, he could not deposit the rent due to his illness and other family issues. It is further submitted that when he approached the concerned respondent-authority for accepting the rent of the said land as well as for issuing rent-receipt, the same was denied without any cogent reason. Though, the husband of the petitioner also filed a representation before the Deputy Commissioner, Ramgarh-the respondent no.2 on 28^th April, 2017, yet no decision on the same was taken. It is also submitted that the present writ petition was filed by her husband but during the pendency of the writ petition he died and then she has been impleaded as the petitioner. It is further submitted that in spite of the several representations filed by the husband of the petitioner

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seeking issuance of rent receipt and also for making entry of his name in e-book records, the respondents failed to do their statutory duty. The Department of Revenue, Registration & Land Reforms, Government of Jharkhand has taken a decision with respect to issuance of rent receipt in favour of a raiyat whose name had been mutated in Register-II with direction to all the Deputy Commissioners to take appropriate action regarding issuance of rent-receipts even for the land pertaining to Gairmajurwa Khata but Jamabandi of the same was opened before the year 1946.

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4. Learned counsel for the respondents submits that the nature of the said land is Gairmajurwa Khas (Paras Jungle) which had vested to State after abolition of Zamindari. The petitioner has failed to show any valid and legal document that from whom the deceased husband of the petitioner had purchased the said land. The land in question is neither in possession of the petitioner nor any structure is standing over the same. Hence, the prayer made in the writ petition is not fit to be considered. There is no evidence to show that Jamabandi of the vendor of the petitioner’s husband ever existed in revenue record of the government for the said land and so far as the mutation is concerned, the said document is a manufactured one as no evidence of deduction of rent is available establishing Jamabandi in favour of her husband. Hence, issuance of rent receipt cannot be accepted as a valid piece of evidence for creation of Jamabandi.

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5. Heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the materials available on record. The claim of the petitioner is that her deceased husband was the registered owner of the said land and the respondents suddenly refused to accept the rent of the said land without any cogent reason. The learned counsel for the petitioner, in support of the claim of the petitioner, has put heavy reliance on letter dated 15^th July, 2020 issued by the Secretary, Department of Revenue, Registration & Land Reforms, Government of Jharkhand to all the Deputy Commissioners and submits that vide said letter, the government has directed the Deputy Commissioners to issue rent receipts even in those cases where settlement of Gairmajurwa land were made before 1^st January, 1946. However, the petitioner has not brought on record any document to show that that the settlement of the said land was made before 1^st January,

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In view of the insufficiency of documents, this Court is not in a position to pass any order directing the respondents to issue rent receipt of the said land in the light of the letter dated 15^th July, 2020. Moreover, the genuineness of the entry in the Register-II has been doubted by the respondents. They have also disputed the possession of the petitioner over the said land.

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6. Under the aforesaid facts and circumstances, I do not find sufficient material available on record to make any interference under the extra ordinary writ jurisdiction of this Court. The petitioner is however at liberty to file a fresh representation before the concerned authority raising her grievance with all relevant documents which shall be dealt with by the said authority in accordance with law and an informed order shall be passed after providing due opportunity of hearing to her/her representative.

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7. The writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of.

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(Rajesh Shankar, J.)

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Rohit

Chandrawati Singh v. The State Of Jharkhand Through Chief Secretary And Ors.

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Chandrawati Singh v. The State Of Jharkhand Through Chief Secretary And Ors.

Case brief

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