Uttarakhand High Court
WPPIL--89/2014 (3 Dec, 2014)
Undisputedly, respondent nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 are in actual physical possession of the property of Khata No. 254, Village Akbarpur Dhadheki, Pargana Manglaur, Tehsil Roorkee, District Haridwar; as per extract of khatauni, Annexure No. 1 to the writ petition, land of khata No. 254 is shown as Johd (village pond); as per Section 117 (1) (vi), tanks, ponds, private ferries, water channels, pathways and abadi site stood vested in the Gram Sabha on the enforcement of UPZA & LR Act; as per Section 132 of the UPZA & LR Act, bhumidhari rights shall not accrue over the land covered by water.
Honble Apex Court in the case of Jagpal Singh v. State of Punjab, reported in 2011 (11) SCC 396, has held that it is the duty of Gram Pradhan as well as of the State Government to preserve the water bodies and not to allow any encroachment thereupon.
Respondent no. 4 is an elected Gram Pradhan and she is wife of respondent no. 7, who has encroached upon the land shown as Johd (village pond) as mentioned in the khatauni. Section 122-b of upza & lr act mandates that eviction order has to be passed against the encroachers over the Gram Sabha land.
It is stated by Mr. S.K. Shandilya, learned counsel appearing for respondent nos. 5 to 6, that since notice issued under Section 122-B to Habib pursuant to the land in question has already been withdrawn by the Tehsildar and revision arising therefrom is pending disposal before the Collector, therefore, the Forum of PIL should not be allowed to be misused for eviction of the respondents.
In our considered opinion, in view of legal provisions as mentioned hereinbefore, since nobody can occupy the water bodies, therefore, private respondents have absolutely no right to remain in possession thereon even for a second.
Moreover, to maintain ecological balance, water bodies should be preserved at any cost.
Consequently, we direct respondent nos. 5 to 10 to handover physical vacant possession of the land in question after removing constructions therefrom to the Gram Sabha within fifteen days from today, failing which the State Government shall ensure the removal of the encroachment from the land in question and in that event, respondent nos. 5 to 10 shall also pay Rs. 1,00,000/- to the State Government as damages for illegally occupying the water body i.e. Johd (village pond).
Petition stands disposed of accordingly.
(U.C. Dhyani, J.) (Alok Singh, J.) 3.12.2014 Avneet/
Source : https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/5864a1ccbc41683e6ebff526
No comments:
Post a Comment