Allotment of Land – For setting up a cement plant – Respondent-company was asked to produce NOC/orders for allocation of ‘Johad’ land from the High Court – The respondentcompany approached the High Court by filing writ petition – Accompanying the said writ petition were several documents pertaining to the spot inspection of the site, the reports of the Tehsildar and the correspondence between the parties to demonstrate that the subject land that had been classified as ‘Johad’, neither fell in the catchment area, nor did water gather there and there did not exist any natural source of water on the subject land and therefore, classification of the subject land could be converted to ‘Siwai Chak’ land – Single Judge of the High Court dismissed the writ petition – Division Bench of the High Court directed the appellant-State Government to consider the respondent’s representations – Appellant-State Government passed an order dated 25.01.2016, holding, inter alia, that the subject land having been recorded in the revenue record as ‘Johad’, no allotment could be made in favour of the respondent-company – Thereafter, the Division Bench proceeded to hear the respondent’s appeal on merits and allowed the same, directed the appellant-State Government to allot the subject land in question to the respondent-company and take consequential steps – Before the Supreme Court, appellant-State by relying on a letter of Tehsildar stated that in some khasra numbers of the said village, there exists a pucca pond which acts as a catchment area of rain water – Held: The aforesaid communication by Tehsildar was not filed by the appellant-State Government before the High Court at the appropriate stage, well before the date of passing of the impugned judgment – Nothing prevented the appellant-State Government from producing the relevant photographs of the purported pucca pond existing at some spots within village Baswa – It is not the case of the appellant-State Government that the earlier reports submitted by the Tehsildar after conducting a physical spot inspection were manipulated or prepared in a mala fide manner, nor is there any averment made in the appeal that departmental action was initiated against the then Tehsildar for having prepared incorrect reports of the spot inspection – Given the said position, there is no reason to discard the two Inspection reports prepared by the Tehsildar that form a part of the record – Both the said reports have stated in clear terms that there is no natural water body on the subject land and the ‘Gair-Mumkin Johad’ falling under the proposed mining lease area does not fall within the water logging area or the catchment area – Therefore, the appellant-State Government directed to take necessary steps to process the allotment of the subject land in favour of the respondentcompany. Dismissing the appeal, the Court
HELD: 1. It is a matter of record that the appellant–State Government has not questioned the Reports prepared by the Tehsildar, Nawalgarh after making spot inspection on two occasions. The position remains the same even as of now. The first Report was prepared by the Tehsildar on 19th/27th April, 2011 and the second one on 25th November, 2012/05th December, 2012. Both the Reports were categorical in their findings that there was no natural water body on the subject land classified as a ‘Johad’ and that the subject land neither fell in the catchment area, nor did water ever collect there and there was no natural source of water that existed on the subject land. That being the position, we see no reason to permit learned counsel for the appellant–State Government to rely on a communication addressed by the Tehsildar to the District Collector, in respect of a part of the subject land falling in village Baswa to urge that there exists a pucca pond at some spots, more so when there is no explanation for not filing the documents. The aforesaid communication could have easily been filed by the appellant–State Government before the High Court at the appropriate stage, well before the date of passing of the impugned judgment. Nothing prevented the appellant–State Government from producing the relevant photographs of the purported pucca pond existing at some spots within village Baswa. It is not the case of the appellant–State Government that the earlier Reports submitted by the Tehsildar, Nawalgarh after conducting a physical spot inspection had been manipulated or prepared in a mala fide manner, nor is there any averment made in the appeal that departmental action was initiated against the then Tehsildar, Nawalgarh for having prepared incorrect Reports of the spot inspection. Given the said position, there is no reason to discard the two Inspection Reports prepared by the Tehsildar, Nawalgarh that form a part of the record. Both the said Reports have stated in clear terms that there is no natural water body on the subject land and the ‘Gair–Mumkin Johad’ falling under the proposed mining lease area does not fall within the water logging area or the catchment area. This Court, therefore, decline to give any weightage to the letter dated 07th July, 2014 addressed by the Tehsildar, Nawalgarh to the District Collector, Jhunjhunu. [Para 8][14-A-G]
2. The High Court has also taken note of the Resolution passed by the Gram Panchayat, village Baswa and the certificate issued by the Gram Panchayat which records that no water had ever accumulated on the subject land and the Gram Panchayat did not have any objection to the said land being granted to the respondent–Company for mining lease purpose subject to the condition that it would be receiving an equal measure of developed land in the same village from the respondent–Company in view of the land being consumed for mining lease purpose. The respondent–Company has also given undertakings to the High Court that the environment of the village will not be adversely impacted and the ecological balance shall be maintained. One of the undertakings given by the respondent–Company is that the site identified for development of an alternate ‘Johad’ would be identified and developed in a planned manner, so as to create a catchment area, water harvesting structure and cattle grazing land. [Para 11][16-F-H; 17-A]
3. This Court concur with the findings returned in the impugned judgment which is upheld. The appellant–State Government is directed to take necessary steps to process the allotment of the subject land in favour of the respondent– Company. The respondent–Company shall file a fresh undertaking with the State Government, within the same timeline, as was filed by it before the High Court, for initiating time bound activities for the benefit of the surrounding villages, as compensatory measures for the allocation of the subject land. The appeal is dismissed while leaving the parties to bear their own expenses. [Para 19][19-H; 20-A-B]
Abdul Rahman v. State of Rajasthan and Others 2004
(4) WLC (Raj.) 435; Director General, Research and Development v. State of Rajasthan & Others 211 SCC Online Raj 3197; Vellore Citizens’ Welfare Forum v. Union of India and Others (1996) 5 SCC 647 : [1996]
5 Suppl. SCR 241; A. P Pollution Control Board v. Prof. M. V. Nayudu (Retd.) and Others (1999) 2 SCC
718 : [1999] 1 SCR 235; Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited (Applicant) in T. N. Godarvarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India and Others (2011) 7 SCC 338 : [2011]
7 SCR 954; Electrotherm (India) Limited v. Patel Vipulkumar Ramjibhai and Others (2016) 9 SCC 300 : 2016 (7) JT 487; Common Cause v. Union of India (2017) 9 SCC 499 : [2017] 13 SCR 361; Alembic Pharmaceuticals Limited v. Rohit Prajapati and Others (2020) 17 SCC 157; Jagpal Singh and Others v. State of Punjab and Others (2011) 11 SCC 396 : [2011] 2 SCR 250; Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India (2000) 10 SCC 664 : [2000] 4 Suppl. SCR 94 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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