IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARANCHAL AT NAINITAL Writ Petition No. 364 of 2004 (M/B) 1. Sri Krishna 2. Harish Chandra 3. Devendra Kumar All S/o Sri Sheel Chand, R/o Village Kopa Lal Singh, Tehsil Gadarpur, District Udham Singh Nagar. ……… Petitioners Versus 1. State of Uttaranchal, through Collector, Udham Singh Nagar. 2. Special Land Acquisition Offcer, Nainital. ……… Respondents Mr. Jagdish Prasad, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Subhash Upadhyaya, Standing Counsel for the State of Uttaranchal. JUDGMENT Coram: Hon. Rajeev Gupta, C.J. Hon. M.M. Ghildiyal, J. RAJEEV GUPTA, C.J. (Oral) The petitioners have filed this writ petition for the following reliefs: “i. That this Hon’ble court may graciously be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus quashing the order dated 23.01.2004 passed by respondent no. 2, annexed to this petition as Annexure 11. ii. That this Hon’ble Court be further pleased to issue any other suitable writ or order which this Hon’ble Court deems proper in the circumstances of the case. iii. Cost of the petition be awarded to the petitioners.” 2. The very foundation of the writ petition that 47 bighas of petitioners’ land was acquired by the State of U.P. is seriously disputed by the respondents in their counter affidavit wherein they have stated that only 23 bighas of land was acquired from the petitioners for the construction of Haripura Dam and in exchange, 2 equal extent of land was granted to the petitioners’ father Sheel Chand. 3. Thus, it is apparent that without resolving the above disputed question of fact, the reliefs sought by the petitioners in this writ petition cannot be granted and the said course is not open in the proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. 4. In this view of the matter, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed. 5. The petitioners, however, shall be at liberty to take recourse to the other remedies which may be available to the petitioners under the relevant provisions of law. 6. With the above observation, the writ petition stands disposed of. (M.M. Ghildiyal, J.) (Rajeev Gupta, C.J.) 28.02.2006 28.02.2006 G