E-Paper
HC cancels allotment of public land to private persons
PIL challenging allotment cannot be dismissed on grounds of grudge of petitioner against opposite party, observes HC
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court refused to dismiss a PIL challenging allotment of public utility land to private persons just because the petitioner may have a grudge against the respondent (opposite party).
The court ordered cancelling the allotment of the gram sabha land for private use in Hardoi district.
A single judge bench of justice DK Singh on July 5 observed: “It is a trite law that if a writ petition filed by a person raises a question of public importance involving exercise of power by men in authority, then it is the duty of the court to inquire into the matter.”
“The legal fraud played by the public authority for the benefit of private persons at the expense of the public at large cannot be condoned. In the present case, even if it is believed that the petitioner has some personal grudge or score to settle with the opposite party and his sons, the cause espoused by him in this writ petition is of greater public importance,” said the court.
“Therefore, this court in its order dated March 18, 2021, observed that looking at the facts of the case this court may treat this writ petition as Public Interest Litigation suo motu,” observed the court.
The court ordered that illegal occupants of the land in question be evicted within 15 days in compliance with the order passed by the district magistrate of Hardoi on June 4, 2021.
The case
Petitioner Sharad Kumar Dwivedi had filed the writ petition against the illegal allotment of three acre gram sabha land in village Nanakganj Grant, Pargana Gopmau, Tehsil Sadar, Hardoi district, to a private trust created by Radhey Shyam Agarwal, a retired IAS officer. The then district magistrate, Hardoi, on January 30, 1987 had made the allotment.
Sanjeev Agarwal, who is the opposite party (respondent in the case), is son of late Radhey Shyam Agarwal.
After the death of Radhey Shyam Agarwal the land was sold in favour of his sons by the trust, on which a showroom of cars was constructed.
The petitioner had filed the PIL challenging allotment and subsequent transfer of land for commercial purpose and had prayed to hold an independent inquiry into the matter and sought directives for removal of unauthorised/illegal construction of showroom of cars over the land.
