IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.2415 of 2009 DEONARAYAN YADAV Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- 2 20/2/2009 Heard counsel for the petitioner and counsel for the State. The version of the petitioner that there has been encroachment of public land by respondent nos. 6 and 7, namely, Sabarmal Agrawal and Kamal Kishore Agrawal has to be found by the authority who is competent to decide as to whether land being claimed by the petitioner is public land and further as to whether respondent nos. 6 and 7 are those persons who have encroached the said public land. This exercise, in the opinion of this Court, can be done only by the authority vested with such power under Bihar Public Land Encroachment Act. There is no dispute that Circle Officer is the Collector under the Act and therefore it is he who can look into this aspect of the matter. The reliance placed by the petitioner on a measurement report dated 7.8.2007 (Annexure-3) may be a circumstance or material for the Circle 2 Officer to hold that the said land is public land, but this Court would not express any opinion for the time being in absence of respondent nos. 6 and 7. Therefore, this Court would give liberty to the petitioner to approach the Circle Officer, Triveniganj in the district of Supaul by filing a compact application containing all the facts supported by document that the land being claimed by him is a public land and if the Circle Officer is satisfied that the version of the petitioner is correct and in fact public land has been encroached by respondent nos. 6 and 7 or by any other person, he will initiate a proceeding under Bihar Public Land Encroachment Act and take an appropriate decision in accordance with the said Act. In the event, the Circle Officer comes to a conclusion that public land has been encroached by respondent nos. 6 and 7 or any one else as claimed by the petitioner, he will ensure that the proceeding initiated in this regard would be conducted and concluded within a period of 3 six months from the date of initiation of such proceeding. With the aforementioned observation and direction this application is disposed of. (Mihir Kumar Jha, J.) Abhay Kumar