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Bihar court orders attachment of Collectorate for not paying compensation to farmer
District magistrate, Aurangabad, Abhilasha Sharma said that the process for payment of compensation to the farmer is under process and it would be done within a week
In a significant move regarding the non-payment of land acquisition compensation to a farmer for decades, the Civil court in Aurangabad district of Bihar, has ordered the attachment (seizure) of the Collectorate (District Magistrate’s office) building and its assets.
The attachment was ordered because the district administration failed to pay over ₹2.22 lakh to Hare Krishna Prasad as compensation of his land acquired by the Water Resource Department (WRD) for an irrigation project, some three decades ago, government pleader (GP) Birja Prasad Singh said on Saturday.
District magistrate, Aurangabad, Abhilasha Sharma said that the process for payment of compensation to the farmer is under process and it would be done within a week. “The compensation has to be given by the water resources department. The process is going on and it would be given to the farmer in a week’s time,” the DM said.
The DM also said the process has been initiated for recall of the order given by the court.
The legal battle for compensation of the land dates back to 80s when the farmer approached civil court when failed to get compensation for his land after running from pillar to post. Despite the local civil court decreed the amount in his favour, neither the WRD officials nor the administration, laid attention to his repeated requests for payment.
After running the offices with court’s order for long and getting no relief, the farmer again filed a suit in the Aurangabad civil court in March 1998 for execution of the decree, the GP said.
Pursuing the execution case for 27 years, the farmer got some relief when the court of Civil Judge Senior Division- 1, Deewan Fahad, issued show cause notice to the administration on November 14 last year. Despite the reply filed by the Additional Collector in December and multiple adjournments on requests of the GP for compliance, the compensation was not paid even in February.
Considering the act a violation of Supreme Court and High Court guidelines, that emphasize the speedy disposal of the oldest cases, and acknowledging that despite giving the administration sufficient time, the decree amount had not been paid, the court took the tough stand and ordered attachment of the Collectorate, the farmer, also an advocate, said.
The court has directed the Civil Court’s Nazir to seize the Collectorate’s property as per the rules and submit his report to the court within 15 days. If payment is not made even after this order, the process of auctioning the Collectorate may be initiated. The next hearing in this case is fixed for March 9, the farmer said.
The GP said that the administration is preferring an appeal against the order in the court of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Aurangabad and is requesting the civil court to stay its order till the appeal.
