1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR. Writ Petition No.250 of 2005 [Shramik Elgar & ors. Vs. State of Mah. & ors.] Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. Ms.Trupti Udeshi, Adv., holding for Mr. A.C. Dharmadhikari, Adv., for the petitioners. Mrs. B.H. Dangre, Addl. Govt. Pleader for respondent nos. 1 to 5. Mr. M.P. Badar, Adv. for Respondent No.6. ----- CORAM : B.H. MARLAPALLE AND A.H. JOSHI, JJ. DATE : 19th November,2008. 1. Heard. 2. Shramik Elgar, a Registered Trade Union, moved this petition in public interest, and more particularly in the interest of the tribals whose land was encroached allegedly by the non-tribals, or for allotment of forest land to the tribals. 3. In obedience of our order dated 1st October, 2008, the Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur, has filed an affidavit regarding the steps taken for restoration of the encroached land to the tribals, and also to set out a time- bound programme for restoration of the land. As per the said affidavit, in all 501 claims were 2 received by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Rajura, from the tribals in Jivati Block, Sub-Division, Rajura. Out of 501 total claims, 167 have been rejected for various reasons like multiplicity of applications, non-submission of proof regarding ownership etc. A detailed chart in respect of these 167 claims has been annexed to the Affidavit-in-Reply and marked as Annexure-R- I 4. Out of the remaining 334 claims, 244 claims have already been settled and land has been restored to the said claimants. Annexure- R-II to the Affidavit-in-Reply is the chart showing the names of such tribals, names of the non-tribals from whom the land has been resumed and the date of possession along with number of application forms etc. Thus, what remains is 90 claims, and it has been pointed out that 69 of them are in respect of the land situated in forest areas. The joint measurement by Forest Department and a Surveyor from the Office of Taluka Inspector of Land Records is in progress in respect of these 69 cases. The Affidavit further states that the Collector, Chandrapur, has been directed to complete the entire process of demarcation and restoration of the land to tribals where the land is found in non-forest area, within a period of six months. 5. So far as the remaining 21 cases are concerned, four of them pertain to the pending 3 litigations before different courts and 17 cases relating to overlapping of village boundaries are also a subject-matter of action to be taken by the Collector, Chandrapur. The Collector has been directed to sort out the problem of overlapping of boundaries of villages and complete the work of demarcation of boundaries and restore the land to the eligible tribals within six months. 6. Ms. Udeshi, learned counsel for the petitioner, referred to the chart at Annexure-R- VI, which sets out the details of the criminal cases initiated for various offences. She also submitted that not a single case for the offence under the Atrocities Act has been filed. We are afraid, this grievance cannot be agitated before us and the petitioner's forum may lie somewhere else. 7. We direct that 69 cases in respect of the land situated within forest area and in respect of which the joint measurement is in progress, shall be decided by the Collector, Chandrapur, on or before 31st March, 2009, and the remaining 17 cases, which pertain to overlapping of village boundaries, shall be decided within a period of six months from today. While conducting the enquiry as well as the joint measurements, if the Collector, Chandrapur, finds it so necessary to take the assistance of Shri Vinod Harkande, who was Sub- 4 Divisional Officer at Rajura, and has been subsequently transferred and presently posted in Bhandara District, more so because we are informed that said Mr. Harkande has been more familiar with the details of these claims pending, he may do so. 8. We, therefore, dispose off the petition in terms of above directions, and we make it clear that the Collector, Chandrapur, shall submit a compliance report to the Registry of this Court on or before 30th April, 2009, through the learned Govt. Pleader. Judge Judge |Hedau|