Jayanti Biswas Vs State of Odisha — Writ and Judicial Review | Orissa HC (2026)

Jayanti Biswas Vs State of Odisha — Writ and Judicial Review | Orissa HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Writ petition allowed in part and disposed of finally: liberty to the petitioners to apply to the Tahasildar, Kalimela for deletion/exclusion of Laxman Biswas's name from R.o.R. Khata No.181/61, Mouza-Erbanpali; the Tahasildar to register a Mutation Case, conduct an enquiry and pass necessary orders.

Issue for consideration

Whether the High Court can, in a writ petition, pass a blanket order directing the Tahasildar, Kalimela (O.P. No.4) to delete the name of a dead recorded tenant from the R.o.R., or whether deletion must be effected only through a Mutation Proceeding before the Tahasildar.

Court's answer

As a settled proposition of law, for deletion of the name of a recorded tenant from the R.o.R. on the ground of death, a Mutation Case must be registered on an application by an interested party; the Tahasildar must conduct an enquiry and then pass orders for deletion/exclusion of the dead tenant's name and substitution of the LRs' names.

Ratio / Principle

The High Court cannot pass a blanket order in the writ petition directing deletion of a dead person's name from the R.o.R., because the formalities required by law must be completed before the Tahasildar through a Mutation Proceeding.

Key takeaways

In view of the settled propositions of law, there is no justification to allow the writ petition in full; it is to be allowed only in part.ratio¶27
Liberty granted to the petitioners to file an application before the Tahasildar, Kalimela for deletion/exclusion of the name of the dead person Laxman Biswas from R.o.R. Khata No.181/61, Mouza-Erbanpali; on such application the Tahasildar shall register a Mutation Case, conduct an enquiry and pass necessary orders.ratio¶30

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Constitution of India, Articles 226 & 227 — Revenue records — Deletion of name of deceased recorded tenant from R.o.R. (Khata No.181/61, Mouza-Erbanpali, Tahasildar Kalimela, Malkangiri) — Held: the High Court cannot pass a blanket order directing deletion of a dead person's name from the R.o.R.; a Mutation Case must be registered on the application of an interested party, an enquiry conducted by the Tahasildar, and orders passed for deletion and substitution of the legal representatives' names — Writ petition allowed in part with liberty to approach the Tahasildar, Kalimela — Disposed of finally (Ananda Chandra Behera, J.).

ORISSA HIGH COURT : CUTTACK

WP(C) No.35230 of 2025

An application under Articles 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India.

Jayanti Biswas & Others

… Petitioners.

-VERSUS-

State of Odisha & Others

… Opposite Parties .

Counsel appeared for the parties:

For the Petitioners : Mr. Niranjan Panda, Advocate

For the Opposite Parties : Mr. S. Nayak, Addl. Standing Counsel. (For the State)

P R E S E N T:

HONOURABLE

MR. JUSTICE ANANDA CHANDRA BEHERA

Date of Hearing : 08.01.2026 :: Date of Judgment : 08.01.2026

JUDGMENT

WP(C) No.35230 of 2025

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ANANDA CHANDRA BEHERA, J.—

1. This writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, 1950 has been filed by the petitioners praying for directing the Tahasildar, Kalimela (Opp. Party No.4) in the district of Malkangiri for deletion of the name of Mr. Laxman Biswas from the R.o.R. vide Khata No.181/61 in MouzaErbanpali, because, Mr. Laxman Biswas has expired.

2. Heard from the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Addl. Standing Counsel for the State.

3. It is the settled propositions of law that, for deletion of the name of a recorded tenant from a R.o.R on the ground of his/her death, a Mutation Case is to be registered on the basis of an application submitted by a interested party, who is interested for deletion of the name of such dead person from the R.o.R and then, an enquiry is to be conducted by the Tahasildar and thereafter, necessary order may be passed by the Tahasildar for deletion/exclusion of the name of the dead recorded tenant from the R.o.R and in his place, the names of his/her LRs be indicated.

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For which, High Court, cannot pass a blanket order in this Writ Petition directing the Tahasildar, Kalimela (O.P. No.4) for deletion of the name of a dead person from the R.o.R, because, for deletion of the name of a dead person from the R.o.R, some formalities as per law are required to be made before the Tahasildar through a Mutation Proceeding.

4. In view of the above settled propositions of law, there is no justification under law to allow the writ petition filed by the petitioners in full.

For which, the writ petition filed by the petitioners is to be allowed in part.

5. In result, the writ petition filed by the petitioners is allowed in part.

6. Liberty is granted to the Petitioners to file an application before the Tahasildar, Kalimela praying for deletion/exclusion of the name of dead person i.e. Laxman Biswas from the R.o.R. vide Khata No.181/61 in Mouza-Erbanpali and on the basis of such application, the Tahasildar, Kalimela shall register a Mutation Case and he shall conduct an enquiry and then, he shall pass the necessary orders for the same.

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7. As such, this writ petition filed by the petitioners is

disposed of finally.

(ANANDA CHANDRA BEHERA) JUDGE

High Court of Orissa, Cuttack The 08 .01. 2026// Rati Ranjan Nayak Sr. Stenographer

Signature Not Verified

Digitally Signed Signed by: RATI RANJAN NAYAK Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa, Cutt ack, India. Date: 09-Jan-2026 14:51:53

WP(C) No.35230 of 2025

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