D.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.4659/2004 Badar Ram & ors. v State & ors. Date of order : 24.03.2008 HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. NARAYAN ROY HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MUNISHWAR NATH BHANDARI ... Mr. M.Mridul, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Shanker Rajpurohit for the petitioners Mr. N.M.Lodha, Addl. Advocate General Heard counsel for the parties and perused the preceding orders passed by this Court. Initially a grievance was raised by the petitioners about encroachments made on public land by unauthorized persons and an impression was given to the court that the lands in question are used by public at large as play ground, burial places etc. and the Government is not taking any action to prevent the persons who encroached upon the same. The Additional Advocate General with reference to his affidavit however submitted that on the basis of recommendation of the Collector of the District the State Government is likely to take a decision to settled a piece of land to the persons who are landless and since it is a public land the writ petitioners have no locus against the alleged settlement made in favour of the landless persons. In reply to this, learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the proposal of the Collector as such has been turned down by the State Government. The fact as to whether the State Government - 2 - has turned down the proposal of the Collector is not being accepted by the learned Additional Advocate General. Rather, he submits with reference to his second reply that subsequently the State Government took decision to settle the lands in question to persons belonging to weaker sections and below poverty line. Public lands may be utilized by the State Government in accordance with law for public interest and unless it is otherwise shown, the villagers would not have any locus to challenge the same. To settle the individual scores, in our opinion, PIL should not be entertained else the purpose of the PIL would be frustrated. Regard being had to the facts and circumstances of the case as noticed above, this PIL application is dismissed. (MUNISHWAR NATH BHANDARI ) J. (NARAYAN ROY),C.J. mathur/