Disposed¶33

Bachchi Devi v. The Union of India

Patna HC6 Jan 2026CWJC/20551/2025

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

CWJC No. 20551 of 2025; Patna High Court; Justice Purnendu Singh; railway land acquisition; Automatic Block Signal Relay Room (ABS Room); East Central Railway; Danapur; Mokama; Shivnar village; demolition of structure; destruction of crops; compensation for acquired land; representation to competent authorities; writ disposed of with directions.

What did the court decide?

Directions to the General Manager, East Central Railway, the Principal Chief Engineer, East Central Railway and the District Collector, Patna to verify whether the petitioner's land was acquired and whether the acquisition is in accordance with law, and to ensure due compensation for the area acquired for construction of the ABS Room; liberty to the petitioner to file a detailed representation before the competent authorities, to be disposed of in accordance with law expeditiously.

Bachchi Devi Vs The Union of India — Patna HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

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Issue for consideration

Whether the respondents can be restrained from constructing the Automatic Block Signal Relay Room (ABS Room) over the petitioner's purchased land without proper acquisition and without payment of compensation. +1 more

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Ratio / Principle

The Court directed the General Manager, East Central Railway, Hajipur, the Principal Chief Engineer, East Central Railway, Hajipur and the District Collector, Patna to examine whether the petitioner's land has been acquired and whether the acquisition is in accordance with law.

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Key takeaways

If the petitioner's land has been acquired in accordance with law, the petitioner is required to be duly compensated for the area acquired for the purpose of construction of the ABS Room.ratio¶29
The petitioner was given liberty to file a detailed representation before the competent authorities concerned, who were directed to dispose of the representation in accordance with law expeditiously.ratio¶30

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Patna High Court (Purnendu Singh, J.), by oral order dated 06-01-2026, disposed of a writ petition by Bachchi Devi alleging that the contractor of Indian Railways demolished a structure and destroyed crops on her purchased land at Village Shivnar (Thana No. 31, Khata No. 1067, Khesra No. 1779) for construction of an Automatic Block Signal Relay Room (ABS Room) without service of any acquisition notice or payment of compensation. The Court directed the General Manager and the Principal Chief Engineer, East Central Railway, Hajipur and the District Collector, Patna to verify whether the petitioner's land had been acquired and whether the acquisition was in accordance with law and, if so, to ensure that the petitioner is duly compensated for the area acquired. The petitioner was given liberty to file a detailed representation before the competent authorities, to be disposed of expeditiously in accordance with law.

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.20551 of 2025

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======================================================

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Bachchi Devi W/o Late Shatrughan Prasad Singh@Shatrughan Singh,, resident of Ward No. 5, Shivnar, P.S. Shivnar, District-Patna.

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... ... Petitioner/s

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Versus

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The Union of India through the Secretary, Rail Bhawan, Rai Sina Road, New Delhi-110001.

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The Divisional Railway Manager, Danapur, Patna.

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The General Manager, East Central Railway, Hajipur, Vaishali.

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The Principal Chief Engineer, East Central Railway, Hajipur, Vaishali.

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The Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Land Reforms Department, Government of Bihar, Patna.

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The Collector, Patna.

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The Circle Officer, Mokama, Patna.

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... ... Respondent/s

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=============== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s	==== :	=================================== Mr. Sanjeeb Kumar Sanju, Advocate
		Mr. Sunil Kumar, Advocate
		Mr. Bhaskar Sandilya, Advocate
For the Railway	:	Mr. Anshay Bahadur Mathur, CGC
For the Respondent/s	:	Mr. Sarvesh Kr. Singh, AAG 13
===============	====	Mr. Arya Achint, AC to AAG 13 ===================================

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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PURNENDU SINGH ORAL ORDER

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2 06-01-2026 Heard Mr. Sanjeeb Kumar Sanju, along with Mr.

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Sunil Kumar, learned counsels appearing on behalf of the petitioner; Mr. Anshay Bahadur Mathur, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Railway and Mr. Sarvesh Kr. Singh, learned senior counsel along with Mr. Arya Achint, learned AC to AAG 13 for the State.

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Patna High Court CWJC No.20551 of 2025(2) dt.06-01-2026 2/4

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The petitioner in paragraph no. 1 of the present

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writ petition has sought inter alia the following relief(s), which is reproduced hereinafter:-

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“1. That this is an application for issuance of a proper writ or writs, direction or directions, order or orders to the respondents not to construct Automatic Block Signal Relay Room (herein after called ABS Room) over the petitioner's purchased land through registered Sale-deed situated at Village- Shivnar, Thana No. 31, Khata No. 1067, Khesra No. 1779, Area 45 decimal registered in the name of Late Ajnasho Devi, who is mother-in-law of the petitioner. For a further direction to restrain the respondents from constructing Automatic Block Signal Relay Room over the petitioner's purchased land that too without any proper acquisition and without paying compensation to the petitioner. ”

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Learned counsel appearing on behalf of petitioner submitted that the petitioner claims that he is in possession of plot nos.1781 and 1779 (detailed in para-12 to the writ petition) having a constructed structure over the said piece of land. The petitioner is aggrieved by the demolition of structure and destruction of the crops grown over the said land, as a result of illegal act of the contractor of the Indian railways.

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He further submitted that the contractor of the Indian railways had informed him that the alleged demolition has been done for construction of Automatic Block Signal Relay Room (hereinafter referred to as the ‘ABS Room’) over the petitioner's land. It is the case of the petitioner that before taking

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Patna High Court CWJC No.20551 of 2025(2) dt.06-01-2026 3/4

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such an extreme action, no notices were served to him nor any notice was published in the newspaper in respect of acquisition of the land belonging to the petitioner, which calls for interference of this Court.

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Considering the aforesaid information, it appears that even the petitioner was not ignorant about any steps taken for acquisition of the land belonging to the petitioner rather he was not informed about the action taken by the authority concerned, requires interference of this Court.

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I find it proper to direct the General Manager, East Central Railway, Hajipur, Vaishali; the Principal Chief Engineer, East Central Railway, Hajipur, Vaishali and the District Collector, Patna to see whether the land of the petitioner has been acquired, if acquired the same is in accordance with law. In case the land of the petitioner has been acquired in accordance with law then the petitioner is required to be duly compensated for the area, which has been acquired for the purpose of construction of ABS Room over his land.

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The petitioner, if so advised, may also file a detailed representation before the competent authorities concerned. The authorities concerned, in that case, are directed to dispose of the representation filed on behalf of the petitioner,

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Patna High Court CWJC No.20551 of 2025(2) dt.06-01-2026 4/4

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in accordance with law, expeditiously.

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Accordingly, the present application stands

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disposed of.

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(Purnendu Singh, J)

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Ashishsingh/-

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Bachchi Devi v. The Union of India

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Bachchi Devi v. The Union of India

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Why is it important?

What the court decided

Issues for consideration

Parties & counsel

Coram

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