Shri. Subal Roy v. The Director Of Agriculture And ANR

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT PORT BLAIR ] *** WPA/4/2026 Shri Subal Roy Vs.

The Director of Agriculture and another Mr. Ananda Halder ... for the petitioner Ms. Babita Das ... for the respondent no.1 Mr. S. C. Mishra ... for the respondent no.2 January 8, 2026 [SR] Item No.3 The petitioner is seeking electricity connection for agricultural purpose in the subject land. The petitioner applied before the appropriate authority but his application stood rejected as the same was not accompanied by a "No Objection Certificate" issued by the Director of Agriculture, being the respondent no.1.

On behalf of the respondent no.1, it is submitted that the land does not belong to the petitioner and furthermore, the electricity connection is sought for maintaining a cowshed instead the same being strictly used for irrigation purpose. After hearing the submissions made by the parties and the factual assertions and denials from the respective parties, I find that the matter involves certain disputed question of facts which cannot be gone into in a writ jurisdiction at this stage. The petitioner has made representations before the respondent no.1 on 21st July, 2025 (at page 32 of the writ petition) and 15th September, 2025 which have not been disposed of as yet.

In the aforesaid facts and circumstances, I find that justice would be sub-served, if the respondent no.1 is directed to give a personal hearing to the petitioner and pass a reasoned order either in favour of granting of "No Objection Certificate" or refusing the same upon considering the materials that may be produced by the petitioner before the respondent no.1. The entire exercise should be completed by 16th March, 2026. The respondent no.1 shall assign specific reason referring to the documents relied upon by the petitioner in support of his claim. The respondent no.1 shall also give a reasonable time to the petitioner to collect the documents and appear before him for the hearing. Immediately upon passing of the order, the same should be communicated to the petitioner. The respondent no.

1 shall be free to decide all issues independently without being influenced by any observation made in this order. I also make it clear that I have not entered into merits and all the points are left open to be decided by the respondent no.1 The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. ( Arindam Mukherjee, J.