WP(C) 1054/2010 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR JUSTICE B. P. KATAKEY The grievance of the petitioners in the present petition is that the res pondent authorities have passed the orders for eviction under Rule 18(3) of the Settlement Rules framed under the provisions of the Assam Land Revenue Regulatio n, 1886, without hearing them. The petitioners have also prayed for a direction to the respondent authorities to settle the land under their possession contendi ng that the land from which they are sought to be evicted are under their occupa tion since 1960 and they are landless persons. It appears from the annexures appended to the writ petition that the pet itioner approached this court in WP(C) No.1426/2005 praying for the same relief as prayed for in the present writ petition and the said writ petition was dispos ed of vide order dated 20.05.2005 with a direction to the respondent authorities not to evict them without serving any notice and without providing them an oppo rtunity of hearing. Another writ proceeding being WP(C) No.961/2009 was thereaft er filed by the petitioners against the eviction proceeding by the respondent au thorities, which writ petition was disposed of vide order dated 09.03.2009 direc ting the respondents not to evict the petitioners from the land except in terms of the directions contained in the order dated 20.05.2005 passed in WP(C) No.142 6/2005. According to the petitioners the respondent authorities have issued evic tion notices under the provisions of the Settlement Rules and sought to evict th em without affording any opportunity to present their cases. The further case of the petitioners is that after receipt of the eviction notice, they have filed r epresentations, which have not been considered by the respondent authorities til l date. This court in the earlier occasions did not grant the prayer of the peti tioners to direct the respondent authorities to settle the land in their possess ion, though such prayers were made in the earlier writ petitions, which amounts to rejection of such prayer in the earlier writ proceeding and hence there is no question of granting such relief in the present writ petition. However, since t his court vide order dated 20.05.2005 passed in WP(C) No.1426/2005 directed the respondent authorities not to evict the petitioners without serving any notice a nd without providing them an opportunity of presenting their cases, such directi on having not been challenged by the respondent authorities in the higher forum, the respondents are bound to comply such direction. As noticed above, the notic e of eviction has already been issued. The respondent authorities, therefore, is to give the petitioners an opportunity to present their cases which according t o the petitioners they have presented by means of the replies filed. In view of the above, the present writ petition is disposed of with a di rection to the respondent authorities to decide the eviction proceeding and pass necessary order upon consideration of the replies, if any, already filed. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. Till such a decision is taken by the respondent authorities, the petitio ners, if they are in possession, shall not be disturbed in their possession. A copy of this order be furnished to Mr. Soren, the learned State counse l.