IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Miscellaneous Jurisdiction Case No.1053 of 2010 ====================================================== Tarni Prasad Singh .... .... Petitioner/s Versus State Of Bihar & Anr. .... .... Respondent/s ====================================================== with Civil Review No.66 of 2011 IN Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 3872 of 2009 ====================================================== The State Of Bihar & Ors .... .... Petitioner/s Versus Krishna Devi & Ors .... .... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance : (In MJC No.1053 of 2010) For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Uday Shankar Sharan Singh For the Respondent/s : Mr. (Sc16) (In C. REV. No.66 of 2011) For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Rabindra Kumar Priyadarsh For the Respondent/s : Mr. ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE JUSTICE SMT. SHEEMA ALI KHAN ORAL ORDER (Per: HONOURABLE JUSTICE SMT. SHEEMA ALI KHAN) 17 21-12-2011 This dispute has arisen with respect to the lands that were acquired in the year 1981 for construction of Phulwaria Dam. The notification was issued in the year 1991, 1992, 1993 under Section 4 (i) of the Land Acquisition Act with respect to some portion of the lands. The petitioner in the main writ application i.e. CWJC No. 3872 of 2009, which was disposed of on 16.07.2009 claimed that he was entitled to receive the Patna High Court MJC No.1053 of 2010 (17) dt.21-12-2011 2 / 4 2 compensation because of the said acquisition. This Court accordingly passed an order in absence of any affidavit on behalf of the State that an award should be prepared in accordance with the records and an acquisition proceeding should be initiated. After the order was passed, it was not complied with. An contempt application was filed. Along with the contempt application, the State has filed a review application taking a stand that in fact the lands in question do not belong to the petitioner and none of his lands were acquired under the acquisition proceedings. According to the stand of the State Counsel, the cadastral survey of 1911 shows that the lands belong to the BIHAR SARKAR and that no jamabandi was created in favour of the petitioner. This Court had called for the records to examine this aspect of the matter, however, it would appear that there are several disputed facts which really cannot be considered by this Court in either the writ application or the review application and in fact it appears that there is a dispute with respect to the question of title. In such matters, it would be best that the matter should be decided by a competent Civil Court. Since, this matter relates to the land acquisition proceeding, the parties agree that the District Magistrate should refer the matter to the Patna High Court MJC No.1053 of 2010 (17) dt.21-12-2011 3 / 4 3 Special Judge, Land Acquisition, Nawada under Section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act. The District Magistrate is advised to refer the matter within a period of one month from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. It may be noted here that Counsel for the petitioner submits that the State has not given any reply with respect to certain plots of land to the extent that they did not say that these lands do not belong to the petitioner. For those plots of land, the petitioner may file an application before the District Magistrate who will examine the matter and if it is found that the plots of land have been duly recorded in the name of the petitioner and were subject matter of the acquisition proceedings, the District Magistrate will act in accordance with law. In case, the District Magistrate comes to a conclusion that these plots of land are not belong to the petitioner and were also recorded in the name of BIHAR SARKAR, it would be open for the District Magistrate to refer the matter to the Special Judge, Land Acquisition, Nawada subsequently. Both the matters should be heard together and disposed of by the Special Judge within a period of three months from the date of reference. This application is disposed of with the aforesaid Patna High Court MJC No.1053 of 2010 (17) dt.21-12-2011 4 / 4 4 observations and directions. This Court had called for the records, which may be returned so that they cannot be misplaced and the matter should be disposed of expeditiously by the Special Judge, Land Acquisition, Nawada. Prabhakar Anand/- (Sheema Ali Khan, J)