IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.16236 of 2009 1. SHASHI BHUSHAN CHAUDHARY S/O SRI SALIGRAM CHAUDHARY, R/O VILL- SIRAJPUR, POST- TEMTHA, P.S- PARBATTA, DISTT- KHAGARIA VERSUS 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR THROUGH COLLECTOR, KHAGARIA (BIHAR) 2. THE DEPUTY COLLECTOR, LAND REFORM, GOGRI 3. THE LAND ACQUISITION OFFICER, KHAGARIA 4. THE CIRCLE OFFICER, PARBATTA, DISTT- KHAGARIA 5. KAMALDEO NARAIN SINGH S/O LATE RAMLAL SINGH R/O PARBATTA, P.O- PARBATTA, P.S-PARBATTA, DISTT- KHAGARIA ----------- For the petitioner : Mr. V. Nath. Mr. Sandeep Singh. Mr. Md. Waliur Rahman. For the State : Mr. Lalit Kishore, AAG-3. ----------- 02 24.02.2010 The petitioner is a displaced person by reason of natural calamity. The entire village of petitioner was submerged in Ganga and remained submerged for over three decades. He was settled on a private piece of land by the State with assurance that the State would acquire the land for settlement of displaced persons and settled it with them. State made two groups, one which was incapable for paying of their resettlement and other persons capable of paying their resettlement. This petitioner was in the latter category. Several times acquisition proceedings were initiated but could not be completed for one reason or the other. The facts remain that till date this capable petitioner has not paid the amount in spite of their alleged willingness to pay for all these years. The result is that the landlord, who has been deprived of his land for several decades without any authority of law, continues to suffer and pressurized the State to restore his possession. In the meantime, several decades he has occupied the land and built upon - 2 - it. Thus, it is a catch-22 situation with three conflicting interest and responsibility. It is not disputed by the petitioner that he is liable to pay. It is also not disputed by the State that they are liable to acquire and make over compensation to the landlord. It cannot be disputed that the landlord has been deprived of his land for several decades, without any compensation and there is no acquisition proceedings pending in that regard. In my view, the only just and equitable solution that can be found is to direct the three parties to sit together and come to a negotiated settlement. I, therefore, direct the Commissioner, Munger Division to convene meetings and take necessary steps to resolve the issues so that the interest of displaced person like petitioner is saved, the interest of the landlord is served and the State is not embarrassed further. He must take effective steps in this matter so as to conclude the matter by a proper negotiated settlement preferably within a period of two months from the date of production of this order before him. It is expected that as steps are being taken under the orders of this Court to reach an amicable settlement, no further coercive step should be taken by the State for the time being. With these observations and directions, the writ petition is disposed of. Trivedi (Navaniti Prasad Singh, J.)