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Jhar HC | [Article 300-A] A person cannot be deprived of his property merely by executive fiat without any specific legal authority or without the support of law made by a competent legislature; Petition allowed

Jharkhand High Court

Jharkhand High Court

Jharkhand High Court: Rajesh Shankar, J., quashing the impugned letter, held, “The respondent 5 being an administrative/revenue Officer is supposed to know the basic law and he can not be permitted to act without jurisdiction so as to infringe the right to property of the petitioners in an arbitrary fashion.”

Background

The factual background of the case as stated in the writ petition is that the petitioners purchased the said land by virtue of three separate sale deeds and they came in peaceful possession of their respective land. Thereafter, they decided to construct a residential apartment over the same, however, some miscreants started threatening and making demand of ransom from them. Two individuals filed a petition under Section 144 Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, before the Sub Divisional Officer, Sadar Ranchi, which was registered as Case No. M-2073 of 2019, and, thereafter, the petitioners were restrained by the respondents 5 and 6 from initiating construction work. Ultimately, the Sub-Divisional Officer, Sadar, Ranchi dismissed the aforesaid case vide order dated 22-01-2020. The petitioners then filed a representation dated 31-05-2020 requesting the respondent 6 to maintain law and order situation as the petitioners were apprehending interference of local goons once the construction work was started. However, when the petitioners started construction work in the month of May, 2020, the husband of the petitioner 2 was attacked and threatened by local goons and an amount of 10 lac was demanded as ransom from him which was duly reported to the police, resultantly an FIR was registered. The respondent 5 vide letter no.37/(ii) dated 08-06-2020 directed the respondent no.6 to take steps for stopping the construction work taking place over the said land, as Original Suit No.18 of 2020 was pending in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division-I, Ranchi. The said letter was subsequently handed over to the petitioners by the respondent no.6. Thereafter, the respondent no.6 issued notice dated 09-06-2020 to the petitioners, directing them to stop construction work over the said land till the disposal of the aforesaid suit in the light of the direction issued by the respondent 5 vide letter no.37/(ii) dated 08-06-2020. The present petition is moved to question the authority of the said notices and further for setting aside the same.

Contentions

Counsel for the petitioner, Amritansh Vats, referred to a catena of judgments by the Supreme Court, to emphasize that Right to Property is a Constitutional Right under Article 300-A of the Constitution and the Respondent authority does not possess any power or jurisdiction to arbitrarily restrain the petitioners from enjoying such right. Reliance was placed on;

Observation

With respect to the alleged arbitrary exercise of power by the Administrative/Revenue Officer “If a suit is filed in any civil court, it is the court concerned which may grant an injunction on an application of the aggrieved person, if it is established that there exists a prima facie case, balance of convenience lies in his favour and if such order is not passed, he would suffer irreparable loss and injury. It is a settled law that mere filing of a suit does not entitle the plaintiff to presume an order of status quo unless the court by a specific order grants the same having taken into consideration the facts, applicable law and judicial pronouncement. The Circle officer has no power or jurisdiction to grant status quo on the mere filing of a civil suit. The respondent 5 being an administrative/revenue Officer is supposed to know the basic law and he can not be permitted to act without jurisdiction so as to infringe the right to property of the petitioners in an arbitrary fashion.”

Decision

Allowing the present petition, the Court quashed the impugned letter no. 37(ii) dated 08-06-2020 issued by the Circle Officer, as well as the letter dated 09-06-2020 issued by the Police Inspector cum officer in charge of the Kanke Police Station, Ranchi.[Sandip Khanna v. State of Jharkhand, 2020 SCC OnLine Jhar 1020, decided on 14-12-2020]


Sakshi Shukla, Editorial Assistant has put this story together

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