The Madhya Pradesh High Court has imposed cost of Rs.20000 on the district collector Jabalpur while disposing of a petition filed by a woman whose land was acquired for highway construction but for certain portion of the land the compensation was not paid nor this portion of land was returned back to her.
It is clear that no one can be deprived of her right to property which is not only a Constitutional one, but is also a human right, the court order said.
The State authorities cannot act as goons thereby dispossessing any person from his/her property and then claiming that they will not pay any compensation/rent/mesne profit to the illegally dispossessed person, specifically when they sat over the matter for 17 years, i.e. from 3/7/2007, when they themselves had decided that the land should be acquired, the court order said.
Thus, it is clear that the State authorities are not ready to respect the law of land and they are acting as per their own wishes, the court order said.
The petitioner’s advocate R.K. Sanghi submitted that since more than 29,150 sqft of land, has been illegally taken by the respondents no.1 (the State government through the collector Jabalpur) and 2 (the Land Acquisition Officer Jabalpur) by dispossessing the petitioner, therefore, she is entitled for mesne profit/compensation at the rate of Rs.1,000/- per day, i.e. Rs.30,000/- per month.
It is mentioned that N.H.A.I. has specifically taken a stand that the land in question is not required and the N.H.A.I. came into picture in the year 2010. Therefore, it is clear that the liability to pay
compensation for illegal dispossession of petitioner cannot be fastened on N.H.A.I, the court order said.
The controversy as to whether land of the petitioner was acquired or not had already come to an end by award dated 26/12/2001 passed by 9th Additional District Judge, Jabalpur in Revision No.1/1998. In spite of that, the respondents did not initiate any proceedings for acquisition of land, which has resulted in a direction to the respondents to pay compensation amount to the petitioner from the date of her illegal dispossession, i.e.5/2/1988 till the land is acquired or it is returned. This
misadventurous act of Collectors, Jabalpur has resulted in financial burden on the State Government where the authorities had acted in a malafide manner and contrary to the orders passed by the Civil Court as well as the High Court and also against the order passed by their own
predecessor and thus, it can be said that it was a deliberate act on the part of Collectors, Jabalpur thereby making himself responsible for bearing the financial burden, the court order said.
Accordingly, it is directed that whatever compensation is paid by the State Government to petitioner on account of her illegal dispossession, the same shall be recovered from the erring
Collectors, Jabalpur and burden shall not be put on public exchequer, the court order said.
Arrears of compensation from 5/2/1988 till today shall be paid positively by State Government within a period of two months from today and the Chief Secretary, State of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal shall file his report to the Registrar General, High Court of Madhya Pradesh,
Jabalpur about compliance of the aforesaid direction, the court order said.
The petition is finally disposed of, with cost of Rs.20,000/- to be deposited by Collector, Jabalpur within a period of one month from today, failing which the Registrar General shall initiate the proceedings for recovery of cost and shall also register a separate case for contempt of Court, the court order said.
It is made clear that the cost so deposited by Collector, Jabalpur shall not be reimbursed by the State Govt. and the cost shall be deposited by a cheque of personal bank account of Collector, Jabalpur, the court order said.
The petitioner shall be entitled to withdraw the cost so deposited by Collector, Jabalpur, the court order said.
