Ananta Kumar Bhakta v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.
Court No. 19 WPA 22384 of 2025 (265719) Ananta Kumar Bhakta Vs.
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
24.06.2026 (A 174) (S. Banerjee) Mr. Debnarayan Patra ...for the petitioner Mr. Nilanjan Bhattacharjee, SSC Ms. Jayita Dhar Chakraborty Mr. Rhitam Chatterjee ...for the State The petitioner claims to be the recorded owner of several plots of land as specifically stated in paragraph no. 2 of the writ petition. The petitioner states that the plots of the petitioner was requisitioned in the year 1975-76 under the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948. The petitioner states that the possession of the lands of the petitioner were taken on different dates between the year 1978 to 1982. The petitioner alleges that no steps were taken by the authorities to acquire the said property by issuance of a notice under Section 4(1a) of the 1948 Act.
Learned advocate appearing for the petitioner submits that even after the expiry of the lifetime of the 1948 Act, the respondent authorities did not take any step to acquire the said land by issuing any notice under Section 9(3A) or 9(3B) of the Land Acquisition (West Bengal Amendment) Act, 1997.
Learned advocate appearing for the petitioner further submits that the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 stood repealed with the coming into force of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 with effect from January 1, 2014.
Learned advocate appearing for the petitioner places reliance upon a judgment dated May 6, 2026 passed in WPA 15687 of 2025 in the case of Champabati Bera & Ors. -Vs.- State of West Bengal & Ors. in support of his contention that under similar circumstances this Court directed the respondent authorities to initiate proceeding for acquisition of the land under the 2013 Act and to complete the entire proceeding including the payment of compensation to the land losers as expeditiously as possible within the time limit stipulated in the said order.
Learned advocate appearing for the petitioner further submits that in spite of a representation through his learned advocate's letter being made by the petitioner to the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Paschim Medinipur dated August 14, 2025, no decision on such representation has been communicated to the petitioner till date.
Mr. Bhattacharjee, SSC, submits that the decision on such representation shall be
communicated to the petitioner within the time limit as may be stipulated by this Court.
In the light of the submissions made by the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties, this writ petition stands disposed of by directing the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Paschim Medinipur to consider the representation of the petitioner through the learned advocate's letter dated August 14, 2025 and after affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner or his authorized representative, to dispose of the same by passing a reasoned order as expeditiously as possible but positively within a period of six weeks from the receipt of receipt of a server copy of this order together with a copy of the representation dated August 14, 2025 and to communicate the same immediately thereafter.
It will be open to the petitioner to place reliance upon any order of the Court in support of his contention and the said respondent authority shall consider all materials that may produced by the petitioner at the time of hearing while passing the reasoned order.
(Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, J.)