Jharkhand High Court: Sujit Narayan Prasad, J. dismissed a writ petition filed by the applicant to challenge the decision of the Deputy Commissioner of Chatrahad who cancelled the jamabandi which was running in the name of the mother of the petitioner, Bigo Devi.
The land in question had been acquired by the State of Jharkhand in favour of the CCL. The possession of the land too was transferred in favour of the CCL. The revenue authority, in consequence of the impact of the acquisition, had passed an order of cancellation of jamabandi in favour of the petitioner on the ground that the petitioner was not found to be in possession of the landed property in question in a Mutation Case. The said order was affirmed by the appellate authority.
The petitioner submitted that although the land had been acquired, there was no compensation paid in favour of the recorded raiyat or her legal heir (the petitioner). For the redressal of this grievance pertaining to the disbursement of compensation, another litigation was filed by them which is lying pending before the competent authority for its consideration. It was submitted that since the revenue authority had cancelled the jamabandi, it would create hindrance in deciding the entitlement of compensation in lieu of acquisition which is lying pending for its consideration.
The defendant submitted that the petitioner cannot be said to have suffered from the impugned order because he was not in possession of the land in question in lieu of the acquisition of the said land by the State of Jharkhand in favour of the CCL and therefore, the jamabandi which was running in the name of the petitioner was rightly cancelled. Further, the entitlement of compensation had no nexus with the order passed by the revenue authority with respect to the creation of mutation because the creation of mutation or cancellation of jamabandi does not either create any right/title or extinguish right and title over the property.
The Court was of the view that since the petitioner was not in possession of the land in question, the running jamabandi in the name of the mother of the petitioner was rightly cancelled under the provision of Section 14 of the Bihar Tenant’s Holding (Maintenance of Record) Act, 1973 which states that only thing is to be seen for creation of mutation is possession over the land in question and since the petitioner was not in possession of the said land, the impugned order stood correct.
The Court further held that, “apprehension is not well-founded in view of the fact that creation of mutation or its cancellation does not either create or extinguish any right over the property in question.” [Raghubir Tiwary v. State of Jharkhand, 2019 SCC OnLine Jhar 1508, decided on 07-11-2019]
