The High Court set aside an arbitrary allotment of small land for a school, directing authorities to utilize the earlier allotted 8-Bigha campus supplemented by donated land to ensure proper facility compliance.
Impugned order dated 20.07.2021 set aside; respondents directed to construct school on land allotted vide order dated 04.02.1999.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
JODHPUR
D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 12281/2021
----Petitioners
Versus
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. R.S. Choudhary. For Respondent(s) : Mr. Sunil Beniwal, AAG. Mr. Deepak Sharma.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANDEEP MEHTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE FARJAND ALI
Order
07/04/2022
1 . By way of the instant writ petition in the nature of Public Interest Litigation, the petitioners herein, being residents of the village Bhalau Tibba, Tehsil Taranagar, District Churu, have approached this Court for assailing the order (Annexure-7) dated 20.07.2021 whereby, the District Collector, Churu allotted land admeasuring 0.3161 Hectare (1 Bigha 5 Biswas) surrendered by
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one Shri Sugnaram Nayak from Khasra No.1024/940 for construction of school and to restrain the respondents from shifting the existing village school located in the Khasra No.805/17 to the said chunk of land.
2 . Shri R.S. Choudhary, learned counsel representing the petitioners, urged that after following the due process of law prescribed under the Rajasthan Land Revenue (Allotment of Unoccupied Government Agricultural Lands for The Construction of Schools, Colleges, Dispensaries, Dharamshalas & Other Buildings of Public Utility) Rules, 1963 and the notification dated 14.02.1995, the Department of Revenue, State of Rajasthan set apart 8 Bighas of Agor Paytan land from Khasra No.720/17 of the village Bhalau Tibba and the State Government allotted the same for construction of school in the village Bhalau Tibba. He further submitted that as on date, a school building is already operational in Khasra No.805/17. The Sarpanch of the village, acting in furtherance of his vested interests, joined hands with the land holder named Sugna Ram and in order to extend the Abadi land of the village upto the field of the said Shri Sugna Ram, a small chunk of land admeasuring 0.3161 Hectare was surrendered by Shri Sugna Ram from his Khatdeari land for construction of school and on the basis of the totally farce recommendation of the Panchayat, the said chunk of land has been approved for construction of the school building in the village Bhalau Tibba. Shri Choudhary Submitted that firstly, there was no justification whatsoever to approve such a small chunk of land for a school building when a school is already operational in Khasra No.805/17. He further pointed out that as per the Education Department’s
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guidelines, minimum 10 Bighas of land is required for establishing Secondary School and as such, the disputed chunk of land admeasuring mere 0.3161 Hectare, which has been allotted for establishment of the school, is woefully inadequate, apart from being located at a significant distance from the Abadi area of the village and as such, the said allotment order deserves to be quashed and the respondents should be directed to construct the school building on the land allotted vide allotment letter dated 04.02.1999. Shri Choudhary further Submitted that the villagers are prepared to donate additional 2 Bighas of additional land adjacent to the chunk of land allotted for the purpose of construction of school vide order dated 04.02.1999 and thus, the requirement of the State Government’s guidelines for construction of the school will be met if the building is constructed on this chunk of land.
3 . Per contra , Shri Deepak Sharma, counsel representing the respondent No.4 Gram Panchayat, vehemently and fervently opposed the submissions advanced by Shri Choudhary. He urged that presently, the school building functional on land of Khasra No.805/17, is encountering huge problem of water logging during rainy season. The said piece of land was a part of Jor Paytan and was not suitable for construction of school building. Otherwise also, the existing building has deteriorated significantly. Even the land, which has been allotted by the order dated 04.02.1999, is not fit to be used for raising construction of school because the same is comprised of Agor Paytan and as such, land use thereof cannot be changed. On these grounds, Shri Sharma implored the Court to dismiss the writ petition.
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4 . Shri Sunil Beniwal, learned AAG also opposed the submissions advanced by Shri Choudhary and urged that the decision to allot the chunk of land for construction of school in Khasra No.1024/940 has been taken after due consideration of reports summoned from the revenue authorities. The viability and feasibility of the land for operating the school has been duly evaluated and verified only thereafter, the District Collector, Churu passed the order dated 20.07.2021 approving the surrendered chunk of land admeasuring 0.3161 Hectare for construction of the Secondary School in the village Bhalau Tibba.
However, Shri Beniwal is not in a position to dispute the fact that as per Clause 2 of the Rules of 1963, 4 acres of land can be allotted for setting up the campus of a Secondary School which would include hostel, school building and playground. Shri Beniwal also did not dispute the fact that the order dated 04.02.1999 whereby, 8 Bighas of land was allotted for construction of Upper Primary School in Bhalau Tibba was issued after following due process of law i.e. Rules of 1963 and notification dated 14.02.1995 and with the prior approval of the State Government.
Thus, this Court has no hesitation in accepting the fact that allotment so made vide order dated 04.02.1999, is within the framework of law. There cannot be any two views on the matter construction of a school on a chunk of land which is less than 2 Bighas, would be totally unjustified and impractical because the children who would study in such school would not get access to proper classrooms and other facilities what to talk of a playground.
When the allotment order (Annexure-R/4/8) dated 04.02.1999 was issued so as to set up the school campus, due
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care was taken to incorporate the constructed area as well as the playground. The allotment order dated 04.02.1999 is also compliant with Clause 2 of the Rules of 1963 as per which, maximum 4 acres land including hostel, playground, etc. can be allotted for setting up of a middle school. Apparently, this upper limit is indicative of the State Government’s intent to provide sufficient land so that the school campus can incorporate all necessary facilities including classrooms, playgrounds, hostels, etc. Reducing this area would mean compromising the functionality of the school. 8 Bighas land has already been allotted vide order dated 04.02.1999. Petitioner’s counsel Shri Choudhary has given an assurance that the villagers are ready to donate an adjacent chunk of 2 Bighas so that total of 10 Bighas of land would be available for setting up the school campus. Otherwise also, no material has been placed on record to satisfy the Court that the existing school building on Khasra No.805/17, is nonfunctional so as to require construction of a new school building on the small chunk of land allotted vide order dated 20.07.2021.
Thus, it would be expedient in the interest of all concerned to direct that if at all, a new school campus is to be set up in the village Bhalau Tibba then, the construction should take place on the land allotted vide order dated 04.02.1999. The impugned allotment order dated (Annexure-7) dated 20.07.2021 issued by the District Collector, Churu is absolutely arbitrary and suffers from sheer non-application of mind as no objective consideration was made as to the minimum land area required to establish a school campus before making such allotment. The decision to make the said allotment was apparently taken to give undue
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benefit to the persons having vested interest who want that the village Abadi should extend nearby their agricultural lands.
5 . Consequently, the order (Annexure-7) dated 20.07.2021 issued by the District Collector, Churu is declared to be invalid and is hereby set aside. The respondents shall take immediate steps for establishment of the new school building with facility of playground on the land allotted vide order dated 04.02.1999 (Annexure-R/4/8).
6 . The writ petition is allowed in these terms. All pending applications are disposed of.
(FARJAND ALI),J (SANDEEP MEHTA),J
21-/Devesh/Tikam/-
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the District Collector's allotment of 0.3161 Hectare land for a school was arbitrary and non-application of mind in light of minimum area requirements.
Whether the existing school building is non-functional and requires shifting to the new allotted land.
Whether the construction of a new school should proceed on the earlier allotted land of 8 Bighas to meet regulatory requirements.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Mahaveer
Nathu Ram
Jora Ram
Lichhaman
Purna Ram
State Of Rajasthan
Sandeep Mehta
Farjand Ali
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
