1 / 8 2025:CGHC:7797 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 6059 of 2024 1 - Hincharam S/o Late Manglu Aged About 55 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 1 Of Compensation Chart) 2 - Mahettar S/o Late Milandas Aged About 78 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 2 Of Compensation Chart) 3 - Amritbai W/o Abhayram Aged About 40 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 3 Of Compensation Chart) 4 - Budhram S/o Shobharam Aged About 53 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 4 Compensation Chart ) 5 - Amarchand S/o Late Chaituram Aged About 46 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 5, 65 Of Compensation Chart) 6 - Lekhuram S/o Abhayram Aged About 32 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 7 Of Compensation Chart) 7 - Laxmandas S/o Mahettar Aged About 62 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 10 Of Compensation Chart) 2 / 8 8 - Mahendra Kumar S/o Shankar Dayal Aged About 53 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 11 Of Compensation Chart) 9 - Shankar Dayal S/o Late Deenndayal Aged About 73 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 12 Of Compensation Chart) 10 - Manalal S/o Late Adhinawa Koshley Aged About 46 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 13 Of Compensation Chart) 11 - Manharan Lal S/o Late Adhinava Koshley Aged About 44 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 14 Of Compensation Chart) 12 - Sudeyram S/o Late Dhansay Aged About 48 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 15 Of Compensation Chart) 13 - Narendra Kumar S/o Dhansingh Aged About 26 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh ((Serial No. 16 Compensation Chart) 14 - Manmohan S/o Late Jhangalu Aged About 56 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 18 Of Compensation Chart) 15 - Sarwan Ghosalay S/o Late Sawant Ghosalay Aged About 61 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 19 Of Compensation Chart) 16 - Devantin Bai W/o Late Bhukhan Aged About 62 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 20 Of Compensation Chart) 3 / 8 17 - Kumari Bai W/o Bansiram Aged About 47 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 21 Of Compensation Chart) 18 - Uttam Kumar S/o Nandlal Aged About 37 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 25 Of Compensation Chart) 19 - Minor Sahil Kumar S/o Uttam Aged About 11 Years Through Her Natural Guardian Father Uttam R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 26 Of Compensation Chart) 20 - Dhanesh Ratre S/o Late Barsan Aged About 39 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 27 Of Compensation Chart) Barsan Has Died Dhanesh Ratre is His Legal Heir 21 - Deepak Kumar S/o Narayan Aged About 33 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 28 Of Compensation Chart) 22 - Binda Prasad S/o Late Mangalu Aged About 70 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 29 Of Compensation Chart) 23 - Nikhil Kumar S/o Uttam Aged About 19 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 31 Of Compensation Chart) 24 - Horilal S/o Late Tarenath Aged About 67 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 33 Of Compensation Chart) 25 - Lalit Kumar S/o Jagdish Aged About 36 Years R/o Village 4 / 8 Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 35 Of Compensation Chart) 26 - Jagdish S/o Late Phulu Aged About 53 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Srial No. 36 Of Compensation Chart) 27 - Krishna Kumar S/o Late Bhukhan Aged About 43 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 37 Of Compensation Chart) Bhukhan Has Died Krishna Kumar Us His Kegal Heir 28 - Omprakash S/o Narayan Aged About 39 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 38 Of Compensation Chart) 29 - Dukhiram S/o Late Gokaran Aged About 67 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 41 Of Compensation Chart) 30 - Devraj S/o Late Chunnilal Aged About 19 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 44, 47 Of Compensation Chart) 31 - Bhagwat S/o Late Fekuram Aged About 30 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 45 Of Compensation Chart (Fekuram Has Died Bhagwat is Legal Heir) 32 - Nandlal S/o Late Ghasiya Aged About 57 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 46, 53 Of Compensation Chart) 33 - Ganeshram S/o Tularam Aged About 57 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 48 Of Compensation Chart ) 5 / 8 34 - Ramgopal S/o Madan Yadav Aged About 67 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh ( Serial No. 51 Of Compensation Chart) 35 - Khemadas Sahu S/o Radheyshyam Aged About 39 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 63 Of Compensation Chart) 36 - Santosh Kumar Dhruv S/o Late Motilal Aged About 55 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh ((Serial No. 66, 68 Of Compensation Chart) 37 - Parbhuwan S/o Late Jhalariya @ Sevakram Aged About 58 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 72 Of Compensation Chart) 38 - Ravi S/o Late Govind Aged About 38 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 5 Of Compensation Chart) 39 - Omprakash S/o Ramgopal Aged About 39 Years R/o Village Dhorabhata Tehsil Bilha District - Chhattisgarh (Serial No. 43 Of Compensation Chart ) ... Petitioners versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Secretary Department Of Revenue And Disaster Management Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan Atal Nagar New Raipur District - Raipur (C.G.) 2 – Collector, Bilaspur, District - Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 3 - Sub Divisional Officer (Revenue) Cum Land Acquisition Officer, Bilha, District - Bilaspur (C.G.) 6 / 8 4 - Registrar Of Land Acquisition And Rehabilitation And Resettlement Authority, Office At Old PHQ Ghadi Chowk, Raipur, District- Raipur (C.G.) 5 - Executive Engineer, Water Resource Department, Kota Division, Kota, District - Bilaspur (C.G.) ... Respondents (Cause title is taken from Case Information System) For Petitioners : Dr. Sudeep Agrawal, Advocate For Respondents/State : Mr. Anmol Sharma, Panel Lawyer (HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE BIBHU DATTA GURU) Order on Board 13/02/2025 1. By the present writ petition, the petitioners, who are the owners of the land situated in village Dhorabhata, Tahsil Belha, District Bilaspur, are seeking a direction towards the respondent authorities for disbursal of compensation as awarded in award dated 28/04/2023 in land acquisition case No.02/A-82/2019-20 passed by the respondent No.3/ Land Acquisition Officer, Bilha, District Bilaspur, towards the land acquired by the authorities. 2. (a) Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that after passing of the award dated 28/04/2023, petitioners have moved an application under Section 64 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 for enhancement of compensation. Subsequently, by communication dated 12/02/2024 (Annexure P/2), the SDO-cum-Land Acquisition Officer referred the matter to the Presiding Officer, Land 7 / 8 Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority and the amount awarded pursuance to the award dated 28/04/2023 has been deposited before the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority. (b) Learned counsel further submits that the said reference is not being heard by the authority as there is no presiding officer since December, 2023 and for which neither the reference being heard nor the payment which has been deposited with the authority being disbursed to the petitioners. He would also submit that one of the land owners whose land has not been acquired pursuance to the award dated 28/04/2023 has approached this Court in WPC No.796/2024 and further in CONT No.1127/2024. Said contempt case has been disposed of with a direction to the Registrar of Land Acquisition (respondent No.4 herein) to disburse the amount of compensation to the said land owner within a period of 10 days. He submits that provision of Section 77(2) of the Act, 2013 provides that any person admitted to be interested may receive such payment under protest as to the sufficiency of the amount, hence the petitioners are also entitled to receive the amount deposited with the tribunal/authority. 3. Learned counsel appearing for the State submits that as the post of Presiding Officer of the authority is lying vacant since a long time, the reference proceeding is not being heard by the authority and the amount is with the tribunal which has been deposited by the State vide Cheque dated 12/02/2024. Hence the respondents/State is not in a position to disburse the amount 8 / 8 awarded in the award dated 28/04/2023. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties, perused the documents and the award dated 28/04/2023. 5. From perusal of the order dated 04/10/2024 (Annexure P/5) passed by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in CONT Case No.1127/2024 wherein one of the land owners whose name is also included in the award dated 28/04/2023 has been directed to approach the authority for withdrawal of the compensation amount deposited with the tribunal. 6. In view of the above, since the amount has already been deposited by cheque dated 12.2.2024 with the respondent No.4, the petitioners may approach the respondent No.4/ Registrar of the authority for withdrawal of the amount deposited with them by filing an application before him and thereafter the Registrar will transfer the said amount to the Land Acquisition Officer within a period of 20 days from the date of filing of such application. Thereafter the Land Acquisition Officer shall make payment to the respective petitioners as per award dated 28/04/2023 within a further period of 15 days after due verification of the petitioner and their land, in accordance with law. 7. With the aforesaid observation and direction, this writ petition is disposed of. Sd/- (BIBHU DATTA GURU) JUDGE $. Bhilwar