Nikhil Das v. The Lieutenant Governor And ORS

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA

[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT PORT BLAIR ] *** WPA/173/2024 Nikhil Das Vs.

The Lieutenant Governor and others Ms. Babita Das .... for the respondents [on behalf of Mr.V.D.Sivabalan] March 4, 2024 [SR] Item No.8 This is an application praying for a direction upon the respondent authorities to demarcate and to hand over the physical possession of the land bearing survey No. 138 measuring an area of 1 hectare situated at Gandhi Nagar village under Diglipur Tehsil for cultivation of the agricultural crops.

No one appears for the petitioner, although the respondents are represented.

The prime contentions of the petitioner appear to be as follows. A licence was issued by the Sub Divisional Officer, Middle and North Andaman, Mayabunder to the petitioner's father to occupy the agricultural land as per the description given in the said licence. The licence was issued in the year 2003 and the petitioner's father was directed to take physical possession of the said land within a specified period. In 2019, the father of the petitioner passed away. In spite of all these, the authorities did not hand over the physical possession of the said land, though the petitioner and his family members took positive steps to vacate the unauthorized occupation of the government land in lieu of such licence. In respect of similar cases, a mass representation was made to the Hon'ble

Lieutenant Governor, Andaman and Nicobar Islands on 21.07.2023 by the affected parties.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent authorities submits that the allegations made in the writ petition are denied. The petitioner and his family had neither moved away from the encroached area nor vacated the forest block. It appears that a licence was issued to the petitioner's father. Prior to the said licence, a notice was given to the petitioner's father to vacate the encroached area and to shift to a de-reserved block.

In view of the above, the Deputy Commissioner, North and Middle Andaman District, Mayabunder, is directed to treat the writ petition of the petitioner as a representation and dispose of the same in accordance with law, after hearing the petitioner as also the Sub Divisional Officer, Middle and North Andaman and the Divisional Forest Officer, North and Middle Andaman, Diglipur by a reasoned order to be passed and communicated to the petitioner. The entitlement of the petitioner or other heirs of the deceased, shall be decided by the authority. This entire exercise shall be completed within a period of six months from the date of communication of this order.

With these observations, this writ petition is disposed of. It is clarified that this Court has not gone into the merits of the case.

Urgent Photostat certified copy of the judgment, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of all legal formalities. ( Jay Sengupta, J. )