Patna High Court held former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar entitled to compensation for a patch of land acquired by the Bihar government, quashing a district collector's order that cancelled the land's revenue records.
The land in question is a 0.56-acre patch in Patna's Mainpura locality in the Phulwari revenue area, acquired by the state government in 1976 for the construction of a drain.
Justice Khatim Reza, in an order dated October 6, set aside the collector's 2023 order cancelling the jamabandi (revenue record) linked to the land and restored the record in the name of Kumar's mother, Indrani Devi.
As per the order, the land in question had been settled by the erstwhile landlord in 1941 in favour of Gauri Charan Singh, whose descendants subsequently transferred it through registered sale deeds.
Indrani Devi purchased the land in 1965, after which her name was mutated in the revenue records. Kumar's name was also mutated on the basis of a registered will after her mother's demise, it said.
Justice Reza held that proceedings under Section 4(h) of the Bihar Land Reforms Act were dependent on the vesting of an estate in the state government under the Act.
"There is no notification produced under Section 3 or 3A by the State during the present proceeding and earlier proceeding" to establish such vesting in respect of the disputed land, the court said, adding that the collector lacked jurisdiction to initiate proceedings under Section 4(h) without establishing the necessary vesting.
The court said the provisions of Section 4(h) were "ancillary in character" and could not be invoked independently of the principal provisions governing vesting of estates in the state.
Noting that the "petitioner has been on the land for over 60 years," the court said, "If the State wishes to challenge a pre-1946 title or settlement, the proper remedy is to approach a competent Civil Court rather than executing a summary cancellation via revenue proceedings."
The court held the collector's order "illegal without jurisdiction", ruling that the revenue records could not be cancelled through such proceedings.
It also held Kumar entitled to compensation under the 2013 Act.
Kumar, in her petition, had maintained that neither her mother, who died in 2002, nor she had received compensation for the acquired land.
Referring to a Supreme Court order, Patna HC held that Kumar was entitled to compensation under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
The court further observed that the collector had relied primarily on the entry in the cadastral survey records describing the land as 'Gairmazarua Aam' and 'Pichhali Nadi', even though the entry was not, by itself, a document of title.
(With inputs from PTI)