(1) wp7429-08 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 7429 OF 2008 Waman s/o Anandrao Wakekar and another PETITIONERS VERSUS The State of Maharashtra and others RESPONDENTS .... Mr. K.J. Suryawanshi, advocate for the petitioner. Mr. P.P. More, A.G.P. for the respondent/State. .... CORAM : SMT. NISHITA MHATRE AND M.T. JOSHI, JJ. DATE : 4th MAY, 2011 ORAL ORDER : 1. The present petition has been filed by the persons who claim that they are the encroachers on the Government Gairan land Gat No. 58 at village Wahegaon, Taluka and District Aurangabad. The petitioners contend that they are entitled to have this encroachment regularized in the light of certain policies of the Government. An application has been filed by the petitioners for the same and according to the petitioners, that application has not been decided as yet by the State. 2. An affidavit has been filed by the State through the Tahsildar, Aurangabad, in which he has (2) wp7429-08 stated that the policy for regularization of encroachments applies only when the persons are in possession of the encroached land. It is pointed out in the affidavit that the petitioners are not in possession of the land and, therefore, they are not entitled for the regularization of their encroachments. 3. A rejoinder has been filed by the petitioners contending that they are, in fact, in possession of the land. 4. These are disputed questions of fact. Whether the petitioners are in possession of the land which they claim they have encroached upon, cannot be resolved by this Court in its writ jurisdiction. Apart from this, whether the policy would apply to the petitioners is also an issue which, in our opinion, can be decided by the Civil Court. The petition is dismissed, relegating the petitioners to an alternate and efficacious remedy. [M.T. JOSHI, J.] [SMT. NISHITA MHATRE, J.] NPJ/wp7429-08 (3) wp7429-08