CW 11159/09 - Manak Lal & Ors.Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. Judgment dt.01.12.09 1/5 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR. JUDGMENT Manak Lal & Ors. Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. S.B. CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.11159/2009 under Article 226 of the Constitution of India Date of judgment : 01st December, 2009 PRESENT HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE VINEET KOTHARI Mr. Chaitanya Gehlot for the petitioner. ------- BY THE COURT:- 1. Heard learned counsel. 2. These petitioners before this Court have approached this Court aggrieved by the order dated 12th October, 2009 passed by the District Collector, Bhilwara rejecting their representation filed in pursuance of the directions of this Court dated 9th April, 2008 while deciging D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No.752/2007 – Manak Lal Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. The said appeal was filed aggrieved by the dismissal of the writ petition by the learned Single Judge vide order dated 23.7.2007 whereby the learned Single Judge permitted the appellant Manak Lal to submit representation for redressal of his grievance to the authority competent. The Division Bench also CW 11159/09 - Manak Lal & Ors.Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. Judgment dt.01.12.09 2/5 reiterated the said direction and permitted the appellant to file a copy of the writ petition and rejoinder before the competent authority i.e. District Collector, Bhilwara. 3. Accordingly, the petitioners appear to have approached the learned District Collector by representation dated 11.6.2008 vide order sheet entries (Annex.43, page 265 of the writ petition) after hearing the said appellant Manak Lal and other connected persons, the learned Collector passed the impugned order on 12th October, 2009 which is subject matter of challenge before this Court in the present writ petition. 4. These petitioners are claiming that they were given pattas in the erstwhile State times in village Atoon, District Bhilwara and since the Municipal Council, Bhilwara and Urban Improvement Trust, Bhilwara also claimed their respective claims over the said land, they have been litigating from one forum to another for claiming the said land for which pattas were issued to them. 5. Even the impugned order (Annex.44 page 297) also discloses the relevant facts about Araji Nos.804, 806 and 807 and order No.25445 dated 28.9.1946 issued by the then Mewar State. CW 11159/09 - Manak Lal & Ors.Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. Judgment dt.01.12.09 3/5 6. Learned counsel Mr. Chaitanya Gehlot also submitted that at one point of time, the Collector vide letter dated 17.10.1967 had written to the District Collector, Bhilwara to regularize the pattas issued in the erstwhile State times. He, therefore, submitted that Municipal Council and Urban Improvement Trust, Bhilwara cannot allot the part of these land to private parties. 7. Having gone through the chequered history of this litigation as narrated by the learned counsel for the petitioner and having gone through the impugned order dated 12th October, 2009, this Court is of the opinion that the proper remedy for the present petitoiners is to file civil suit for declaration and injunction in the present matter if they want to claim any right over the land in question over which the Municipal Council and Urban Improvement Trust of Bhilwara are also having their counter claims. These are undoubtedly seriously and complex disputed questions of facts emanating from the pattas alleged to have been issued in favour of the petitioners in the erstwhile State time of which the exact location in the said village Atoon of District Bhilwara is not specified and is not clear. That is why this Court relegated the present petitioners to the competent authority namely Collector, Bhilwara and the Collector, Bhilwara after hearing the concerned parties also observed that the petitioner failed to get their pattas established before the Municipal CW 11159/09 - Manak Lal & Ors.Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. Judgment dt.01.12.09 4/5 Council. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that all these pattas were produced before the Collector himself. 8. From the above, it appears that the petitioners may have a semblance of right over the land in question though it is not precisely specified or established and there are rival claims of Municipal Council and Urban Improvement Trust, Bhilwara also and, therefore, such disputed questions of facts deserve to be decided at proper forum by appropriately instituted suit by the petitioners. The problem of the petitioners seems to be expiry of limitation for filing such suit. Of course, subject to right of the defendants to raise the objection of limitation, this Court is of the opinion that the petitioners before this Court deserve to be relegated to the alternative remedy by filing civil suit in the competent court having jurisdiction over the land in question. 9. Accordingly, this writ petition is disposed of with the liberty to the petitioners to file civil suit before the competent Court having jurisdiction and if such suit is instituted within one month from today, the learned trial court may take into account the circumstnaces which has caused the delay in filing such suit and the fact that the petitioners have been litigating for their right at different forums by now. Therefore, this Court is of the considered opinion CW 11159/09 - Manak Lal & Ors.Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. Judgment dt.01.12.09 5/5 that the writ jurisdiction in the present matter against the impugned order dated 12th October, 2009 passed by the learned District Collector, Bhilwara cannot be invoked as the efficacious and alteranative remedy by way of civil suit is available to the petitioners. 10. With these observations, this writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. Copy of this judgment be sent to opposite parties. [ DR. VINEET KOTHARI ], J. item No.2 babulal/