1 2025:CGHC:47477 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 4937 of 2025 1 - Banshidhar Lal Gupta S/o Late Rajkumar Gupta Aged About 46 Years R/o Village Chandanpur, Ramanujganj, District - Balrampur- Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh 2 - Sanjay Kumar Gupta S/o Late Rajkumar Gupta Aged About 48 Years R/o Village Chandanpur, Ramanujganj, District - Balrampur- Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh 3 - Jayprakash Gupta S/o Late Rajkumar Gupta Aged About 42 Years R/o Village Chandanpur, Ramanujganj, District - Balrampur- Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary, Department Of Forest, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Naya Raipur, Atal Nagar, P.O. And P.S. Naya Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 2 - Commissioner Surguja Division Ambikapur, District Surguja Chhattisgarh 3 - Collector Balrampur-Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh 2 4 - Divisional Forest Officer Balrampur Forest Division, District - Balrampur-Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh 5 - Village Panchayat Devgai Through The Sarpanch, Village Panchayat Devgai, Janpad Panchayat Ramchanderpur, District - Balrampur- Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh 6 - Nandlal S/o Ramjanam Sao Aged About 58 Years R/o Village Devgai, Tahsil Ramanujganj, District - Balrampur-Ramanujganj Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s) : Shri V.K.Pandey, Advocate For Respondent/State : Shri Satish Gupta, GA (Hon’ble Shri Justice Arvind Kumar Verma) Order on Board 16/09/2025 With the consent of the parties, the matter is heard finally. 2. The present petition has been filed by the petitioners being aggrieved by the order impugned dated 14.082024 passed by the respondent No.4 whereby the petitioners who are the owners of the alleged land through their registered sale deed executed in their favour has wrongly been converted into forest land by the respondent No.4 vide its compartment NO. P3420 measuring area 1.000 hectares and vide the said order permitted the respondent No.5 for construction of community building over the same. 3. Facts of the case in brief are that the petitioners are the 3 purchasers of land bearing old Khasra No. 2/1, admeasuring 1.82 hectares, situated at village Chandanpur,Patwari Halka No. 39, RIC Ramchandarpur, Tahsil Pal, Districit Balrampur. The said land was originally allotted to one Shri Vidya Sagar, Son of Late Tapeshwar Gupta by order dated 29.05.1987, conferring Bhumi Swami rights. Subsequently, upon complaints being received, an enquiry was conducted by the Tahsildar, Pal and the matter was placed before the Addl. Collector, Surguja, Ambikapur. Vide order dated 27.01.2006, the Addl. Collector held that the Patta was genuine and the said order attained finality. 4. Thereafter, Vidya Sagar sold the land to the petitioners by registered sale deed dated 22.08.2014, pursuant to which the names of the petitioners were mutated in the revenue record by the order dated 15.10.2014. On appeal preferred by respondent No.6, The Sub Divisional Officer vide order dated 25.04.2015, set aside the mutation and directed that the land be recorded as Chhote Jhaad Jungle. The petitioner’s appeal before the Addl. Commissioner, Surgjua was allowed on 30.09.2016 restoring their rights and the said order attained finality. Respondent No.6 again approached the Collector, Balrampur, who, vide order dated 21.02.2018 set aside the Patta and directed that the land be entered as Gochar. The petitioners preferred a revision before the Commissioner, Surguja Division, Ambikapur, who vide order dated 14.10.2024, set aside the Collector’s order but remanded the matter for re-examination of the Patta. On a Review Petition filed by the petitioners, the Commissioner vide order dated 3.12.2024 deleted the remand order. That order also attained finality. 4 5. Despite this, the Forest Department, treating the land as forest, marked it as Compartment No. P-3420. Further vide impugned order dated 14.08.2024, respondent No.4 permitted respondent No.5-village Panchayat to raise construction of a community building over the said land. The petitioners came to know of the impugned order only on 12.08.2025 and hence, filed this petition. 6. Contention of the counsel for the petitioners is that the land in question is a private land allotted under due process of law in the year 1987 and the Bhumi Swami Patta was declared genuine by the Addl. Collector in the year 2006.the said order having attained finality cannot be reopened directly by treating the land as forest. The petitioners are bonafide purchasers under a registered sale deed, their names were duly mutated in the revenue record, and subsequent orders of the Commissioner, Surguja Division, have affirmed their rights. He submits that the action of the forest department in merging the land into forest and marking it as Compartment NO. P-3420 is wholly illegal, arbitrary and without jurisdiction, especially when the competent revenue authorities have recognized the petitioners’ title. The impugned order dated 14.08.2024 permitting construction of a community building on the petitioners’ land is a gross violation of their proprietary rights guaranteed under Article 300-A of the Constitution of India apart from being contrary to settled principles of natural justice. He therefore submits that the impugned order be quashed and the respondents may be restrained from interfering with the petitioners’ possession over the land. 5 7. Per contra, learned counsel for the State submits that the land in question has, in the revenue record, also been reflected under the head forest/Gochar, and therefore the action of permitting community construction cannot be said to be per se illegal. It is further contended that since the matter has been contentious for decades, involving public land, the authorities are well within their powers to regulate the same. He however, submits that let the petitioners make a fresh representation before the authorities concerned who in turn will decide the same within a time frame. 8. Accordingly, the present petition stands disposed of with a direction that in the event the petitioners file a detailed representation within 15 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, before the respondents No. 3 & 4, enclosing all relevant orders and documents pertaining to the land, the concerned authorities shall consider the representation objectively and decide the matter within a period of 120 days from the date of receipt of the representation in accordance with law. Sd/- (Arvind Kumar Verma) Judge SUGUNA DUBEY Digitally signed by SUGUNA DUBEY Date: 2025.09.19 11:50:25 +0530