WP(C) 820/2008 BEFORE HON’BLE MR JUSTICE HN SARMA Heard Mr. S. Sarma, learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. Patowary, learne d Standing counsel, PWD and Mrs. VL Sinha, learned State counsel appearing for the State respondents. The case of the petitioners as projected in this writ petition i nteralia is that he is the owner and in possession in respect of an area of lan d measuring 2.07 ar covered by Dag No. 2550 and 2255 in KP Patta No. 1101 situat ed at Sahar Guwahati Part I Mouza Guwahati in the District of Kamrup Assam. The petitioners while they were in peaceful possession of the said plot of land, all on a sudden, the officials of the respondents/authorities informed the petition ers that on 28.2.07 that certain portion of the land under their occupation fa cing A.T. Road falls within the Govt. land and would be dealt with under Rule 18 (2) of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation started to measure their land f acing AT Road but no notice has been served to that effect. Apprehending evicti on under the provision of Rule 18 (2) the petitioners have approached this court by filing this writ petition. Mr. Sarma learned counsel submits that since the petitioners are in occupation of their Miyadi Patta land and not the Govt. land, the steps tak en to evict the petitioners by the respondents/authorities is illegal, unjust an d improper. Mr. Patowari, learned Standing counsel, PWD upon calling by the cour t, has furnished written instruction. As per the said instruction, the renovati on and construction work of the drain from Paltan Bazaar Police point to Maliga on Railway Over Bridge on A.T. Road would be undertaken very shortly and the dra in will be constructed on the extreme edge of the right of ways of the A.T. road . The aforesaid instruction furnished by the Executive Engineer, PWD contains t he following report: REPORT Construction of road side drain cum footpath at A.T. roa d (ch. 1170.00m to ch 1790.00m) under award of 12th Finance Commission for the f inancial year 2007-08 was sanctioned by the Govt. vide A.A. No. DA5R60/2007/Pt/3 dated 23rd November, 2007 and the work was allotted to a contractor vide work o rder no CE/CW/51/2007/17 & 18 dated 26.11.2007. The work is taken up to complete the remaining portion drain and footpath on AT Road from Panbazar ROB to Bharal umukh including its repairing in order to widen the road to the full width of th e available road side land of the Govt. as well as to provide road side drainage of the storm water & footpath for the pedestrians. In this connection, the dist rict authority was requested to demarcate the PWD road side land vide this offic e letter no. 1467 dated 26.11.2007 (copy enclosed) to facilitate the work in vie w of possible encroachment. The officials of Guwahati Circle Office under the di strict administration carried out a survey and demarcated the land available und er the Govt. on 28.02.2008 vide case No. 04/2008 for execution of the said work by clearing the encroachment. It is therefore worth mentioning that there is no part of this department in the matter of eviction etc. The learned counsel for the petitioners has furnished a photocopy of the K.P.Pat ta No. 1101 standing in the name of the predecessor-in-interest of the petitione rs covering the disputed land. The aforesaid Patta on the face of it contains ce rtain conditions of lease and as per Clause 4 of the conditions, it is provided that in the event the Govt. requires the land for the purpose of repairing any road, the portion of the area facing road side would be utilized for such purpos e up to 30 Ft. from the road without paying any compensation. It is seen from th e aforesaid instruction that the land in question is necessary for widening the road and for construction of drain over the A.T. Road which is for greater publi c interest. Accordingly the steps taken by the respondents/authorities on the fa ce of the above noted facts cannot be said to be illegal, unjust and improper. H owever, it is made clear that in taking the said land, the respondents/authoriti es shall specifically demarcate the area by issuing necessary notice/order in c onsonance with the plan of the department and after such specification would be entitled to take necessary action for completing the proposed construction of d rain on the side of the road. With the aforesaid order, this writ petition stands disposed of finally. Earlier order of status quo also stands merged with this order.