Cost imposed on three litigants in land ceiling case against govt
A single bench of Justice Rajiv Roy, while dismissing the writ petition of one Ashok Kumar Tiwary and his two siblings, ordered the litigants to deposit the cost amount in the office of Bihar Legal Services Authority (BALSA) within four weeks.
The judgment was delivered on July 10, but it came in the public domain after being uploaded on HC website on Tuesday.
The matter relates to the initiation of three land ceiling cases in 1975-76 over 2,100 acres of agricultural land of a landlord named Shatrumardan Shahi of West Champaran district.
The three petitioners were purported purchasers of six bighas of land from the son of the landlord. Despite repeated demands made by every court and forum in the last 50 years, they could not furnish a single copy of their sale deed, which was allegedly executed on June 23, 1970.
Even the mutation of land was done 25 years after the alleged sale of land.
Justice Roy found that these litigants initiated an endless legal battle only to hoodwink the revenue authorities.
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The sole motive of such litigants was to delay and defeat the purpose of land reform laws of Bihar, whereby surplus lands of landlords (exceeding the area of the ceiling limit) have been acquired by the govt and distributed among landless or marginal farmers, he remarked.
Patna: The Patna high court imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on three people who engaged in a legal battle of a land ceiling case against the state govt for 50 years without any evidence of ownership of their claimed lands.
A single bench of Justice Rajiv Roy, while dismissing the writ petition of one Ashok Kumar Tiwary and his two siblings, ordered the litigants to deposit the cost amount in the office of Bihar Legal Services Authority (BALSA) within four weeks.
The judgment was delivered on July 10, but it came in the public domain after being uploaded on HC website on Tuesday.
The matter relates to the initiation of three land ceiling cases in 1975-76 over 2,100 acres of agricultural land of a landlord named Shatrumardan Shahi of West Champaran district.
The three petitioners were purported purchasers of six bighas of land from the son of the landlord. Despite repeated demands made by every court and forum in the last 50 years, they could not furnish a single copy of their sale deed, which was allegedly executed on June 23, 1970.
Even the mutation of land was done 25 years after the alleged sale of land.
Justice Roy found that these litigants initiated an endless legal battle only to hoodwink the revenue authorities. The sole motive of such litigants was to delay and defeat the purpose of land reform laws of Bihar, whereby surplus lands of landlords (exceeding the area of the ceiling limit) have been acquired by the govt and distributed among landless or marginal farmers, he remarked.
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