IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.13694 of 2005 Jitwahan Sharma son of Late Yadunandan Sharma, resident of Vivekanand Colony, resident of Ward No. 10 (Deodharpur), Tekari, P.S. Tekari, District Gaya. …..Petitioner Versus 1. The State Of Bihar 2. The Secretary, Department of Revenue, Government of Bihar, Patna. 3. Director, Department of Revenue, Government of Bihar, Patna. 4. The District Magistrate, Gaya. 5. The Sub Divisional Officer, Tekari, District Gaya. 6. Circle Officer, Tekari, District Gaya 7. Tekari Municipality through its Executive Officer 8. The Executive Officer, Tekari Municipality, Tekari, District Gaya 9. Ramji Prasad, son late Jayanandan Sharma 10. Ram Pravesh Singh, son of Late Yamuna Singh 11. Vijay Prasad Singh, son of Ishwari Prasad Singh 12. Radhey Sao, son of Late Lala sao 13. Sanjay Kumar, son of late Baijnath Sharma 14. Ganesh Pandey, son of late Basudeo Pandey 15. Sheo Yadav, son of Nathun Yadav 16. Sri Ram Sharma, son of Late Ambika Sharma 17. Kamla Singh, son of Late Parasnath Singh 18. Mahendra Prasad, son of Late Ram Chandra Sahu 19. Kamla Prasad, son of late Baijnath Sao 20. Raj Kumar Gupta, son of Late Munni Sao 21. Jagdeo Choudhary, son of late Basant Choudhary 22. Laxmi Pd., son of Shanker Sao 23. Manoj Kumar, son of Siyaram Sudhir 24. Vijay Prasad, son of Late Tuknarayan Sao 25. Sheonath Prasad, son of Late Etwar Sah 26. Ashok Sandil, son of Madheswar Sharma 27. Prem Kumar, son of Rajaram Prasad 28. Binod Paswan, son of Ramdeo Paswan 29. Kishori Yadav, son of Somar Yadav 30. Sheo Lal Yadav, son of Ram Chandra Yadav 31. Saroj Paswan, son of Rameshwar Paswan 32. Ganauri Yadav, son of Jethan Yadav 33. Ajay Kumar, son of Late Rajendra Singh 34. Rajeshwar Singh, son of Late Chandrika Singh 2 35. Sitaram Singh, son of late Kamla Singh 36. Siyaram Singh son of Kamla Singh 37. Rakesh Sharma, son of Surerndra Nath Sharma 38. Sanjay Sharma, son of Awadh Kishore 39. Tej Narayan Singh, son of Kamla Singh 40. Sheonandan Singh son of Late Ambika Singh 41. Ishwari Prasad son of Pratap Singh 42. Anil Sharma, son of Kamlesh Singh 43. Rameshar Yadav, son of late Chandrabali Singh 44. Banke Bihari Sharma, son of Ramruch Sharma 45. Hameed Khan, Masjid Secretary, Tekari All respondents No. 9 to 45 are residents of Vivekanand Colony (Deodharpur), Ward No. 10, Terkari, P.S. Tekari, Gaya. …..Respondents. ----------- 2. 24.11.2011 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State. The prayer in the writ petition is for a direction to the respondents particularly the Sub Divisional Officer, Tekari and the Executive Officer, Tekari to remove encroachment made by the private persons including the respondents over plots number 3454, 3463, 3504 as well as other plots which are public land in the nature of road, pokhra, pyne, reservoir etc. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that earlier also the authority found such encroachment to be unsustainable and accordingly certain directions were issued for their removal under Section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 which was challenged before this Court in 3 Criminal Revision No. 394 of 1998 and this Court had set aside such proceeding only on the ground that before passing such an order there had to be a detailed enquiry in which the party had to be given an opportunity of adducing evidence which not having been done, made the order unsustainable. It appears that pursuant to the said order of this Court, a proceeding was also initiated afresh against the concerned in the year 2003 but according to the petitioner the same has not progressed and the encroachment still exists. The said proceeding was even numbered as Miscellaneous Case No. 02 of 2003. Learned counsel for the State submits that in view of the controversy involved the application may be disposed off with appropriate direction to the authorities to look into the matter and take necessary action. Considering the rival contentions and taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, the writ petition stands disposed off with a direction to the Sub Divisional Officer, Tekari, Gaya as well as the Executive Officer, Tekari Municipality, Gaya, to ensure that the plots in question which are alleged to be public land are made encroachment free. Besides taking appropriate action under 4 Section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the authorities are also at liberty, and in fact obliged to take action under the Bihar Public Land Encroachment Act also. The authorities concerned shall ensure that the encroachments are removed within a maximum period of four months from the date of production/receipt of a copy of this order upon them. They shall take immediate steps in accordance with law after giving opportunity of hearing to all concerned. Saif/- (Ahsanuddin Amanullah, J.)