IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.5888 of 2005 ============================================== Dr.Nagendra Kumar, S/o Late Gopi Nath Prasad of village & P.O. Jagarnatha, P.S. Uchchkogaon, District Gopalganj (Retired Principal H.R. College, Mairma, Disrict Siwan). Present Address: House No. A – 10, Chatterjilan Road No. 6 D, Gardanibagh, Patna – 1. .... .... Petitioner Versus 1. The State Of Bihar through the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar, Old Secretariate, Patna 2. Bihar State Housing Board, trhough the Managing Director, 6 Sardar Patel Path, Patna – 1 3. Executive Engineer, Bihar State Housing Board Patna Division II, Bahadurpur (BhutNath Road) Patna. .... .... Respondents ============================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Dr.Nagendra Kumar (In Person) For the State : Mr. Bindhyachal Rai, AC to GA VIII For the Bihar State : Mr. R.S. Pradhan, Sr. Advocate and Mrs. Nilu Agrawal, Advocate ============================================== 4 15-09-2011 Heard petitioner in person, learned counsel for the State and the Bihar State Housing Board. Petitioner seeks direction for handing over the possession of the plot no. 2M/14 allotted to him by the Bihar State Hosing Board (hereinafter referred to as “the Board”) at Digha, Patna as agreed between the parties on 11.6.1996 and 2 27.6.1996 by a registered deed or for the refund of the entire amount of Rs. 40869/- deposited by the petitioner time to time along with 18 % interest per annum and compensation also. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Board, whereby statement has been made that Rs. 21,269/- has been deposited till 21.10.1991 and thereafter agreement was executed between the petitioner and the Respondent Board, which was registered on 27.6.1996. However, at the time of hearing, the learned counsel appearing for the Board has submitted on instruction that the total amount paid by the petitioner till 2005 would come to Rs. 40,869/-. Learned counsel submitted that since the area under acquisition was under heavy litigation and encroachment, the legislature has come up with an enactment, namely, Digha Acquired Land Settlement Act, 2010 and under Section 4 thereof it has been incorporated that the Board may cancel the allotment/ allotments made over the acquired land under Bihar State Housing Board (Management and Disposal of Housing Estates) Regulation, 1983 framed under the Bihar State Housing Board Act, 1982 and make refund of the deposits made by such allotees/applicants along with compound interest @ 8 % per annum from the date of its deposit till the date of refund. 3 However, the aforesaid Act is yet to be notified by the State Government and, therefore, the Board is unable to act in accordance with the aforesaid provision. Learned counsel for the Board has placed reliance upon a decision dated 10.2.2010 passed by a Division Bench in CWJC No. 7335 of 1991 (Gur Bilas Singh & ors. vs. The State of Bihar & ors.), whereby the Division Bench of this Court in identical matter after consideration of the materials has recorded its finding that it is satisfied that the Board on account of its own impediment had failed to allot the land for which the petitioners had applied and had deposited the earnest money of a sum of Rs. 5,000/-. The Court has further recorded in the aforesaid order that it would not go into the pricing policy of the Board but then it would be clear that whatever was projected in the prospectus for the purpose of allotment of land in the year 1990-91 could not be fulfilled as the Board itself had failed to take possession of such acquired land for a long period of time. In case of this petitioner though the plot was allotted to him by the Board after a registered agreement between the parties, however, it has failed to deliver the possession as it itself could not take possession of the acquired 4 land of Digha area for long period of time. Thus, it has been stated in paragraph no. 10 of the counter affidavit that on furnishing of required documents like indemnity bond, affidavit and original pay – in – slip as required under the Act, it would refund the amount deposited by the petitioner along with 5 % interest excluding the registration fee. Learned counsel for the Board has further stated that the Division Bench has also given a direction for refund of the money along with 5 % of simple interest as per the Regulation of the Board existing till date because new enactment is yet to be notified by the State Government. In above view of the matter, let the petitioner appear before the Managing Director of the Board along with the documents as has been mentioned in paragraph no. 10 of the counter affidavit within four weeks along with a certified copy of this order. In that case the Managing Director of the Board would get the interest calculated from the date of deposit of the amount by the petitioner till the date of payment and pay the entire amount deposited by the petitioner except the registration fee within three weeks thereafter. In case such amount is not paid within the period specified in this order then the Board would be liable to pay further compound 5 interest @ 12 % till date of its payment. Accordingly, this application is allowed to the extent as indicated above. Sanjay Pd/- (Dr. Ravi Ranjan, J)