1 2025:CGHC:30502 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 3412 of 2025 1 - Sampat Lal Markande S/o Pyari Das Markande Aged About 45 Years R/o House No. 285, Ward No. 13, Litiya, Bajrangpur, Nawagaon, Tehsil And District Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Secretary, Department Of Revenue And Disaster Management, M 2-01, Mahanadi Bhawan, Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, Chhattisgarh 492002 2 - Collector District Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh 3 - Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Revenue) District Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh 4 - Tehsildar District Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh ----Respondents (Cause-title taken from Case Information System) For Petitioner : Mr. Aniruddh Singh, Advocate For Respondent-State : Ms. Nupur Trivedi, P.L. Hon’ble Shri Arvind Kumar Verma Order on Board 04/07/2025 1. Counsel for the Petitioner prays for the following relief(s):- (i)That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire records in relation to the case of the petitioner for its kind perusal. (ii) That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to quash / set aside the order dated 23.12.2024 and 26.12.2024 passed by the Respondent No. 2 and Respondent No. 3 respectively. 2 (iii) That this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the Respondent authorities to grant compensation of Rs. 4,00,000/- to the petitioner for the loss of life of his son due to drowning in a well as per the provisions of Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular; (iv) That this Hon’ble Court may further kindly be pleased to direct the respondent authorities to grant interest of 18% on the compensation amount from the date of impugned order dated 23.12.2024 (v)Any other relief which may be suitable in the facts and circumstances of the case, may also be granted. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is challenging the order dated 23.12.2024 passed by the Respondent No. 2 on the basis of which the application under Clause 6(4) of the Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular filed by the petitioner seeking compensation of Rs. 4,00,000/- on account of death of Petitioner's son due to drowning in the well on 25.11.2023 has been rejected. The Petitioner is also challenging order dated 26.12.2024 passed by the Respondent No. 3 whereby the application of the Petitioner was dismissed in view of the impugned order dated 23.12.2024 passed by the Respondent No. 2. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that the Respondent No. 2 in the impugned order dated 23.12.2024 stated that the case of the petitioner deserves to be rejected because the deceased committed suicide and therefore same is not an accidental death as per the provisions of Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular. It is pertinent to mention here that the respondent No. 2 came to the conclusion that the deceased committed suicide solely on the basis of statements recorded by the police whereas it is an admitted fact that there were no eye witnesses at the time of death of the deceased. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that no suicide note or any other evidence has been discovered which proves that the Petitioner's son committed suicide. The statement recorded by 3 the witnesses are mere presumption and not conclusive and not backed with a single piece of evidence. Therefore, the reason given by the Respondent No. 2 in rejecting the claim of compensation of the Petitioner is perverse, arbitrary and illegal. In support of his contention, learned counsel placed his reliance upon a decision of the Hon’ble Court in Aasho Bai and others v. State of Chhattisgarh in WPC No. 3167/2018. 5. Learned State Counsel opposes the submission made by the learned counsel for the petitioner. 6. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record. 7. This Hon'ble Court in Aasho Bai and Others v. State pf Chhattisgarh and Others, WPC No. 3167/2018 categorically held that the compensation under Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular should be awarded to nearest dependent of a person who died due to fall in well. The relevant paragraph of the judgment is produced as under:- “...the State Government has itself issued the circular for awarding compensation to the nearest dependent/legal representative of a person who died on account of natural calamity or due to fall in river, tank, dam, well, nahar, or nallah, there is no reason as to why the appellants should not be allowed to avail the benefit of the circular of the State Government. If a person falls through the bridge and suffers injuries after falling into the river or nallah the same would amount accidental death attracting clause Five (5) of the circular dated 09.06.2015” 8. The witness Sampat Lal who is father of the deceased, stated in his evidence that his son Karan kumar Markande, age 26 years, was mentally weak. On 25.11.2023, he left home saying that he was going to Raipur. When he died by drowning in a well near BNC Mil Rajnandgaon, he received information through the police. The witness Ramkumar supported the statement of the witness 4 Sampat Lal. 9. Further, in the order (AnnexureP/5) dated 19.04.2024, the Tehsildar has transmitted the case of the petitioner to the Collector of Rajnandgaon through Sub Divisional Officer (Revenue) Rajnandgaon for further action along with recommendation for sanctioning the amount of Rs. 4,00,000/- to his father of the deceased Mr. Sampat Lal Makande. 10. Admittedly, there were no eye witnesses at the time of drowning in well and the petitioner’s son late Shri Karan Kumar Markande died due to asphyxia as a result of antemortem drowning as per postmortem report (Annexure P/7). 11. Considering the aforesaid judgment and also considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the concerned authorities are directed to make payment of compensation of Rs. 4,00,000/- to the petitioner, who is the father of the deceased, in terms of the clause 6(4) of the Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular within a period of three months from the date of production of certified copy of this order. 12. With the aforesaid direction, the writ petition is disposed of. Sd/- (Arvind Kumar Verma) Judge Jyoti