1 2025:CGHC:23337-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPPIL No. 57 of 2025 1 - Kriparam Sahu S/o Mehtur Sahu Aged About 55 Years R/o Ward No. 51, Near Mmi Narayana Hospital, Lalpur, Tikarapara, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 2 - Dayaram Sahu S/o Sukhau Ram Sahu Aged About 47 Years R/o Ward No. 51, Lalpur, Tikarapara, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 3 - Liladhar Sahu S/o Jaypal Sahu Aged About 35 Years R/o 288, Mahavir Chowk, Lalpur, Tikarapara, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 4 - Lakeshwar Sahu S/o Bharat Lal Sahu Aged About 34 Years R/o Ward No. 51, Near Mahavir Chowk, Lalpur, Tikarapara, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 5 - Jitendra Sahu S/o Patalu Ram Sahu Aged About 40 Years R/o Ward No. 51, Near Mmi Narayana Hospital, Lalpur, Tikarapara, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 6 - Tikaram Sahu S/o Ramprasad Sahu Aged About 44 Years R/o Ravindra Nath Tigore Nagar, Lalpur, Tikarapara, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 7 - Vijay Kumar Sahu S/o Matadin Sahu Aged About 33 Years R/o 117, Near Mahavir Chowk, Ward No. 51, Lalpur, Tikarapara, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 8 - Rati Lal Sahu S/o Narsingh Sahu Aged About 47 Years R/o 238, Durga Chowk, Ward No. 51, Lalpur, Tikarapara, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. ... Petitioner(s) MANPREET KAUR Digitally signed by MANPREET KAUR Date: 2025.06.13 16:40:10 +0530 2 versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Principal Secretary, Department Of Revenue And Disaster Management, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Naya Raipur Chhattisgarh. 2 - District Collector Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 3 - Sub Divisional Officer (Revenue) Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 4 - Naib Tahsildar Tahsil Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 5 - Water Resources Department Shivnath Bhawan, Atal Nagar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. 6 - Raipur Municipal Corporation Nagar Nigam Head Office, Near Mahila Police Thana, Gandhi Udyan, Raipur Chhattisgarh. 7 - Police Station Tikarapara District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 8 - M/s Mukesh Builders Through Its Partner Vijay Agrawal S/o Ram Awatar Agrawal, R/o Aishwarya Kingdom, Kanchana Road, Raipur Chhattisgarh. ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Aseem Bhagwat, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Mr. Rajkumar Gupta, Add. A.G., Mr. Anand Mohan Tiwari and Ms. A. Sandhya Rao on behalf of Mr. Pankaj Agrawal, Advocates Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, Chief Justice Hon'ble Shri Bibhu Datta Guru , Judge Order on Board Per Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice 12.06 .2025 1. Heard Mr. Aseem Bhagwat, learned counsel for petitioners as well as Mr. Rajkumar Gupta, learned Additional Advocate General, 3 appearing for the State/respondent Nos. 1 to 5 & 7, Ms. A. Sandhya Rao on behalf of Mr. Pankaj Agrawal, learned counsel for respondent No.6 and Mr. Anand Mohan Tiwari, learned counsel for respondent No. 8. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that he has already deposited the security amount, receipt of which is attached with the present petition, hence he does not want to press I.A. No.03/2025 i.e. application for exemption from depositing the security amount. 3. The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners styled as public interest litigation with the following prayers: “10.1. That this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue direction thereby calling for the entire record regarding the Nistar land bearing Khasra No. 428 area 0.506 ha and Khasra No. 429 area 0.862 ha, total area 1.368 ha situated at Village Tikarapara, P.H.No. 70, Tahsil Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.). 10.2. That this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate writ to set aside the Orders dated 28/04/2025 and 30/04/2025 passed by the Court of Naib Tahsildar in Revenue Case No. 202405114900045/B-121/Year 2023-2024 (Annexure - P/12). 10.3. That this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction declaring the mutations of the nistar pond / land bearing Kh. No. 429/1, 429/2, 429/3, 429/4, 429/5, 429/6, 429/7 and Kh. No. 428/1, 428/2, 428/3, 428/4, 428/5, 428/6, 428/7 4 (Annexure-P/4) as illegal, void, and unenforceable; 10.4. That this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the State authorities to take immediate steps to restore the status of said nistar pond bearing Khasra No. 428 & 429 situated at Village Tikarapara, P.H.No. 70, Tahsil Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.) and to maintain and preserve the nistar pond as a public utility water resource for intended purposes as per the Nistar Patrak dated 22/12/1955 (Annexure-P/2); 10.5. That this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue a writ or direction to state authorities to initiate proceedings under Section 251 of the CG Land Revenue Code or under any other relevant provisions of law for absolute acquisition of Nistar Pond bearing Khasra No. 428 & 429 situated at Village Tikarapara, P.H.No. 70, Tahsil Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.) for public purposes; 10.6. That this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue directions to the respondent authorities to swiftly act upon the representations/Objection dated 16/05/2025 (Annexure-P/13) and complaints dated 19/05/2025 (Annexure-P/14) filed by the petitioners. 10.7. Any other relief as this Hon'ble Court deems fit in the facts and circumstances of the case may also be granted.” 4. Brief facts of the case are that this petition is filed in public interest to protect a nistar pond bearing Khasra No. 428 area 0.506 ha and Khasra No. 429 area 0.862 ha, total area 1.368 ha situated at Village Tikarapara, P.H.No. 70, Tahsil Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.) which is illegally diverted, divided and now being illegally 5 encroached and mutated in the name of a private builder. The said pond was vested in the State of Madhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh) under Section 5(f), (g), and (h) of the M.P. Abolition of Proprietary Rights Act, 1950, and was recorded in the Nistar Patrak issued in 1955 as being reserved for public utility purposes (e.g., bathing, irrigation, drinking, cattle use). Despite the clear vesting and reservation, descendants of the ex-proprietor/zamindar illegally executed a sale deed for transfer of the pond in part in favour of the Respondent No. 8, a private Builder/Developer, who then initiated mutation proceedings to enter its name in the revenue records and begun development activities, threatening the existence of the water body and the public's rights over it. In 2024, the petitioners alongwith the former Parshad namely Ravi Dhruw filed a representative Objection against illegal encroachment, levelling and destruction of the said pond and the mutation proceeding was stayed until now. The cause of action arose when the Objection was wrongfully withdrawn by the former parshad Ravi Dhruw by submitting a withdrawal application by forging the signatures of the petitioners. Subsequently, the Stay order was illegally revoked in absence of the objectors without verification but in most arbitrary and malafide manner in order to benefit the builder by facilitating illegal mutation of the pond and land in favour of the builder based on an invalid sale deed executed by persons who had no legal title after vesting of the property in the State. The Petitioners have 6 immediately filed complaints and objections before the local authorities including the Police Station Tikarapara Raipur but the authorities have failed to take any corrective action, and the pond is now in immediate danger of being filled/ levelled or encroached upon, thereby affecting public interest, ecological balance, water resource and violating the Doctrine of Public Trust. 5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted the land in question is unoccupied public property vested in the State Government under a statutory mandate as per the M.P. Abolition of Proprietary Rights (Estates, Mahals, Alienated Lands) Act, 1950 and included in the Nistar Patrak dated 22/12/1955, which is binding under law. Once an estate is declared as Nistar Bhoomi for the intended purposes as stated therein, the status and nature of the land cannot be reverted or diverted. In other words, once a property is registered as waqf, it will always remain a waqf property indefinitely and it cannot be converted, developed, sold, acquired except under very limited circumstances. The ex-proprietor or its descendants are prohibited by law and not entitled to alienate the property included in the Nistar Patrak. Consequently, any sale deed executed at any point of time with respect to the Nistar Pond is void ab-initio. The nistar land was diverted, divided and transferred in utter violation of the provisions of M.P. Abolition of Proprietary Rights (Estates, Mahals, Alienated Lands) Act, 1950 and the C.G. Land Revenue Code, 1959. The mutation based on a void sale deed by private individuals is illegal, ultra vires, and 7 non est in law. Further, the authorities have failed to act under Section 251 of the Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code, which mandates for compulsory and absolute vesting of unoccupied Nistar land upon the State government. The inaction of the respondents violates the Fundamental Rights under Article 21 (right to a clean and healthy environment) and contravenes Article 48A and Article 51A(g) of the Constitution and preservation of natural resources. Also, the Doctrine of Public Trust, as upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, requires the State to protect natural resources like ponds and water bodies for public use and not permit their privatisation or destruction. Many a times, the mutation of the subject property was rejected by the erstwhile Tahsildar, Raipur for the properties is recorded as 'Talaab' in the revenue records. But eventually, some portions of the subject property were wrongly mutated in favour of the private parties on the basis of sale deeds by deliberately overlooking the nature of the property as Nistar Pond. The Objections submitted by the petitioners was unilaterally withdrawn by the ex-parshad Ravi Dhruw by forging the signatures of the petitioners as the ex- parshad Ravi Dhruw silently filed a forged and false Application dated 22/04/2025 alongwith an Affidavit for withdrawal of any objection but without the consent of the petitioners to that effect. The petitioners have immediately filed complaints and objections before the local authorities including the Police Station Tikarapara Raipur but the authorities have failed to take any corrective action. 8 Hence this petition. 6. From perusal of the materials available on record, it transpires that the issue involved in this petition is a purely civil dispute and there is no element of public interest involved rather, the petitioners appeared to be interested parties having personal interest. The petitioners have participated in the revenue proceedings before the Nayab Tahsildar, in the capacity of an objector. Hence, if the petitioners have any grievance, they have remedy of taking recourse to law before the appropriate forum and this petition Raipur that the present petitioner was an objector before the authority concerned while passing of the impugned order. 7. On a pointed query being made to the learned counsel for the petitioner as to how the present petition be maintainable against the impugned order, learned counsel is not able to give any satisfactory reply to the same and only submits that he wants to press other prayers made in the petition. Accordingly, the instant petition is dismissed. The security amount deposited by the petitioner also stands forfeited. Sd/- Sd/- (Bibhu Datta Guru) (Ramesh Sinha) Judge Chief Justice Manpreet