1 2025:CGHC:1111 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 3846 of 2022 1 - Gopal Prasad Patel S/o Dinbandhu Patel Aged About 75 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 2 - Mehtar S/o Samaru Aged About 60 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 3 - Pyare Lal S/o Baldu Aged About 65 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 4 - Padman S/o Anadram Aged About 75 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 5 - Amar Singh S/o Budga Aged About 90 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 6 - Gangavati Wd/o Dashrath Aged About 60 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 7 - Rameshwar S/o Chirku Aged About 65 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 8 - Duti Bai W/o Mehtar Aged About 54 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 9 - Potram S/o Padum Lal Aged About 57 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 10 - Tikaram S/o Bhuvneshwar Aged About 51 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 11 - Goverdhan S/o Osram Aged About 59 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 12 - Prakash S/o Mahingal Aged About 36 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) RAHUL JHA Digitally signed by RAHUL JHA Date: 2025.01.09 18:20:46 +0530 2 13 - Mahingal S/o Chhatatsai Aged About 52 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 14 - Madhusudan S/o Nilamber Aged About 65 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 15 - Nilamber S/o Sadaram Aged About 82 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 16 - Jadishwar S/o Gopal Aged About 45 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 17 - Lukeshwar S/o Shiv Prasad Aged About 48 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 18 - Prem Kumari W/o Lukeshwar Aged About 42 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 19 - Navratan S/o Ashok Aged About 34 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 20 - Ashok S/o Sundar Lal Aged About 60 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 21 - Son Kunwar W/o Rupchand Aged About 60 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 22 - Amitabh S/o Damru Aged About 44 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 23 - Anuj S/o Damru Aged About 42 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 24 - Bhawani Shankar S/o Mahendra Aged About 52 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 25 - Keshaw Shankar S/o Mahendra Aged About 48 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) 26 - Ram Charan S/o Gangaram Aged About 60 Years R/o Village Dolesara Tahsil Tamnar, District Raigarh (C.G.) Petitioner(s) versus 3 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Secretary, Department Of Revenue And Disaster Management Mahanadi Bhawan Mantralaya, New Raipur, Atal Nagar, District Raipur (C.G.) 2 - Collector Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. 3 - Land Acquisition Officer/sdo (R) Gharghoda, Tahsil Gharghoda Raigarh (C.G.) Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Ashutosh Mishra, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Ms. Nupoor Sonkar, PL (HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE BIBHU DATTA GURU) Order on Board 08/01/2025 1. By the present writ petition, the petitioners are seeking directions towards the respondent to decide their representations made under Section 101 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as ’the Act, 2013’) for returning their acquired land by the respondent authority, which has been left unutilized. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the land of the petitioners were acquired vide Award dated 25/08/2017 by the Land Acquisition Officer, Raipur. He would submit that the initiation of land acquisition proceeding was made in the year 2014 and till date their land has not been used by the respondents for the purpose for which it was acquired. He referred the representation dated 13/04/2022 (Annexure-P/3) which lies pending before the Secretary (Revenue) and has not been decided till date. 4 3. Learned State counsel submits that if the representations of the petitioners under Section 101 of the Act, 2013 is still pending, the same shall be considered in accordance with law. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the documents annexed with the petition. 5. Section 101 of the Act, 2013 reads as under:- “101. Return of unutilized land. - When any land, acquired under this Act remains unutilized for a period of five years from the date of taking over the possession, the same shall be returned to the original owner or owners of their legal heirs, as the case may be, or to the Land Bank of the appropriate Government by reversion in the manner as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government. “ 6. From perusal of the representation, it is quite vivid that the petitioner by invoking the provisions of Section 101 of the Act, 2013 submitted the representation before the respondent authority, but it is still pending. 7. Therefore, this writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the Secretary (Revenue) to consider the application/representation of the petitioners in accordance with the provisions enumerated under Section 101 of the Act, 2013 and decide the same within a period of three months from today. Sd/- (BIBHU DATTA GURU) JUDGE Rahul 5