By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 29: The High Court of Meghalaya on Friday noted the lack of progress in the case of the Harijan Colony residents despite considerable time having been afforded for a negotiated settlement.
The court heard a clutch of cases between the state government and the Harijan Panchayat Committee (HPC).
The state government told the court that the residents have not responded to its offer to the HPC to increase the extent of allocation and the sizes of the individual plots. But the residents claimed they did not receive such a proposal.
The residents also submitted to the court that they have taken their issue to the central government, which is apparently looking into the request sympathetically.
Pointing out that a relevant writ petition was disposed of, the court observed that the legal issue in the case was rather simple.
“The state purported to issue a notice to constitute a committee for the purpose of ascertaining whether the residents in this case duly occupied the land that was in their possession. It was such action of the state which was called into question by the residents by instituting proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution,” it said.
Although the writ court said the parties were free to pursue their remedies before any appropriate civil forum, there was a twist in the tail of the order impugned dated February 15, 2019, the court observed.
“Paragraph 7 of the relevant order, which is the portion by which the state is aggrieved and in appeal, provides as follows: Therefore, I direct the government and all the other agencies not to disturb the petitioners in any manner and if at all they want to evict or remove them, they are to approach the Civil Court and the Civil Court will pass a proper judgment after giving equal opportunity to both the parties and decide the title in accordance with law,” the court said.
The residents preferred an appeal from the same order, it said.
“It does not appear that the residents can be regarded as persons aggrieved for the appeal to be maintainable since no prejudice has been occasioned to the residents by the order impugned and the writ court merely exercised a discretion available to it to not enter into disputed questions of fact since petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution are dealt with summarily and without recording evidence,” the court said.
However, the residents maintained that the writ petition should have been entertained and adjudicated on merit as official records would go against the government’s assertion that the residents are encroachers.
“Since the matter has been lingering for a considerable period of time and a further adjournment is sought on behalf of the residents, let the matter appear on October 3 for the appeals to be finally heard out,” the court of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Biswadeep Bhattacharjee said.