Page No.# 1/10 GAHC040008902023 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) (ITANAGAR BENCH) Case No. : WP(C)/313/2023 Lham Goley and 9 Ors. S/o Lt. Leki Wangchu, Permanent Resident of Village Khartoth, PO/PS Tawang, District Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. 2: Dorjee Tsering Age: Occupation : S/o Lt. Kersang Tsering Permanent Resident of Village Bumteng PO Lemberdung PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh. 3: Sang Tashi Age: Occupation : S/o Lt. Sonam Tsering Permanent Resident of Village Yubu PO Bomdir Supply PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh. 4: Dorjee Tsering Age: Occupation : S/o Lt. Sangey Wangchu Permanent Resident of Village Audung PO Kitpi Page No.# 2/10 PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh. 5: Genden Dorjee Age: Occupation : S/o Lt. Jambey Yeshi Permanent Resident of Village Baikhar PO Kitpi PS Tawang Distrct Tawang Arunachal Pradesh. 6: Lobsang Norbu Age: Occupation : S/o Lt. Sang Dakpa Permanent Resident of Village Jamkhar PO Kitpi PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh. 7: Yeshi Tsering Age: Occupation : S/o Lt. Lama Na Permanent Resident of Village Shernup PO Kitpi PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh. 8: Sangey Lungten Age: Occupation : S/o Lt. Sang Tsewang Permanent Resident of Village Khardung PO Kitpi PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh. 9: Koncho Dorjee Age: Occupation : S/o Lt. Khandu Tsering Page No.# 3/10 Permanent Resident of Village Khartoth PO/PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh. 10: Rinchin Tsering Age: Occupation : S/o Sang Phuntso Permanent Resident of Village Shernup PO Kitpi PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh VERSUS THE UNION OF INDIA AND 6 Ors. Represented by the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Sena Bhavan, Govt. of India, New Delhi 110011 2:the Directorate General Age: 0 Occupation : Defence Estates Raksha Sampada Bhawan Ulaanbaatar Marg Delhi Cantt 110010 3:the Defence Estate Officer Age: 0 Occupation : Cole Park Road Tezpur PO/PS Tezpur District Sonitpur Assam 784001 4:the Commandant Age: 0 Occupation : 190 Mountain Brigade Indian Army C/o 99APO Page No.# 4/10 Chuje GG PO/PS Tawang District Tawang Arunachal Pradesh 790104 5:THE STATE OF AP Age: 0 Occupation : Represented by the Commissioner/Secretary Land Management Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh Office at Civil Secretariat District Papum Pare Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar 791111 6:the Director Age: 0 Occupation : Land Management Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh District Papum Pare Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar 791111 7:the Deputy Commissioner Age: 0 Occupation : Tawang District Tawang PO Tawang Arunachal Pradesh 79010 Advocate for the Petitioner : Binter Picha, Jumgam Jini,Tao Tarin,L Tsering Advocate for the Respondent : GA (AP), Elina Perme,Marto Kato,DSGI Page No.# 5/10 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KARDAK ETE ORDER Date : 18-06-2025 Heard Mr. B. Picha, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. M. Kato, learned DSGI appearing for the respondent Union of India and Mr. N. Lowang, learned Senior Government Advocate for the State respondents. 2. By filing this writ petition, the petitioners, who belongs to Shar-Tso Community located at Chuje GG, Tawang, have prayed for a direction to the respondent authorities to pay compensation for the additional area of 198 Acres of the Community Land, occupied by the Indian Army, as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, (hereinafter, the LARR Act, 2013 in short) after sparing some holy places or vacate the land after payment of adequate lease for the period previously occupied by the Indian Army. 3. Briefly put, the facts of the case are that the petitioners belong to Shar-Tso Community of Tawang, representing the 28 (Twenty-Eight) villages, who are the land owners of Chuje GG, Tawang. The land, under the occupation of the Indian Army, is the community land of Shar-Tso Community, which is located at Chuje GG, Tawang. The Indian Army have been allotted an area of 1450 acres of land at Chuje GG, vide notification, dated 22.03.1988, for which compensation has been paid to the Shar-Tso Community. 4. It is the contention of the petitioners that when they found that the Indian Army is illegally in occupation of the land of the petitioners at Chuje GG area, in excess of the allotted land measuring 1450 acres, the petitioners have approached the respondent authorities by filing representations from time to Page No.# 6/10 time. 5. Finally, a coordination meeting was held under the Chairmanship of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, attended by the Chief Secretary, DEO along with senior officers from Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Officers from 5 Mountain Division on 21.09.2021. In the said meeting, the Defence Estate Officer informed that he has been instructed to carry out DGPS survey of all Army assets in Tawang District. However, considering the divergent claims by the Army and District Administration with respect to the demarcation and boundaries, it was observed that going for one more unilateral survey using RTK would not be prudent at this juncture as it would further lead to misleading data. As such, it was decided that such RTK survey should not be carried out at that stage. It was further decided that there is an urgent need to carry out the re-verification of the army land jointly by the DEO and the District Administration and also to avoid discrepancies in the outcome of such verification, it has to be done adopting the same methodology, which was used at the time of land acquisition in the year 1987-1988, i.e. by using compass and chain. 6. Mr. B. Picha, learned counsel for the petitioners, while referring to the sequence of proceedings by the state respondents, submits that finally a joint verification of various pockets of defence land at Tawang by all the stake holders were carried out. In respect of land of the petitioners, the total surveyed area has been found to be 1648 acres in respect of Chuje GG location, which belongs to the petitioners. Since the Indian Army has been allotted for an area measuring 1450 acres of land, there is an excess of 198 acres. Accordingly, the petitioners should be either paid compensation in terms of the LARR Act, 2013 or the Indian Army to vacate and revert the land to the petitioners after Page No.# 7/10 payment of adequate lease. 7. Mr. M. Kato, learned DSGI for the Union of India submits that the Indian Army has been allotted an area measuring 1450 acres in the year 1988, for which the petitioners have been adequately compensated in accordance with law. On re-verification, there is a shortfall of 30.784 acres out of the allotted area in the Chuje GG area. Therefore, the learned DSGI submits that since the re-verification carried out by the Army authorities shows the deficit or shortfall of 30.784 acres and the claim by the petitioners of the occupation of excess area of 198 acres as per the re-verification/survey made by the third party on being engaged by the State authority, by using compass and chain, an obsolete method, re-verification by using a modern/latest technology should be the best way to resolve the issue. 8. Mr. N. Lowang, learned Senior Government Advocate for the State respondents submits that as per the Minutes of the Meeting headed by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, attended by the Chief Secretary, DEO along with senior officers from Government of Arunachal Pradesh and the Army authorities, the State has engaged one M/s ESET Consultancy and Allied, Yupia Road, Borum, Papumpare District, for re-verification/re-survey by using compass and chain. Accordingly, as per the re-verification, the total area under occupation of the Indian Army is 1648.00 acres and the original allotment is 1450 acres. Therefore, it appears that there is an excess of 198 acres of land. However, the re-verification/ survey done by the Army authorities shows that there is shortfall of 30.784 acres. In view of above, he also submits that a proper re-verification would be the way out to resolve the issue. 9. I have considered the submissions advanced by the learned counsels for the parties and have perused the materials available on record. Page No.# 8/10 10. The Indian Army has been allotted land measuring 1450 acres located Chuje GG at Tawang, which is originally claimed to be the land of the petitioners consisting of 28 villages of Tawang. The State authorities and the Army authorities had held a meeting considering the land acquisition issues, pertaining to Indian Army in the District of Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, which was chaired by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, whereby, decisions were arrived at, amongst others, that there is an urgent need to carry out re-verification of the Army land jointly by the DEO and District Administration. To avoid discrepancies in the outcome of such verification, it has to be done by adopting the same methodology which was used at the time of land acquisition in the year 1988, i.e. using compass and chain. Pursuant to the said decision, the State authorities has carried out the re-verification which appears to have been done through a 3rd party namely, M/s ESET Consultancy and Allied, Yupia Road, Borum, Papumpare District. 11. Perusal of the re-verification report shows that the total surveyed area in respect of Chuje GG is of 1648.00 acres. The petitioners have based their claims to the effect that since the total surveyed area comes to 1648.00 acres and the original allotted area is of 1450 acre, there is an excess of 198 acres of land, for which, either a compensation is to be paid or to return the land to the petitioners. 12. Equally, it is noticed that as per the survey/verification by the Army authorities, there is a shortfall of 30.748 acres of land. Since the Army has been allotted 1450 acres of land for which a compensation has already been paid to the petitioners/land owners, the land cannot be easily claimed back or for any additional compensation. However, the respective claim appears to be a disputed questions of fact as to which re-verification i.e. the State re-verification Page No.# 9/10 or the Army authorities, is correct. It is a settled position of law that Writ Court would not embark upon to determine the disputed question of facts. 13. The claim of the petitioners is based on the re-verification/ survey done by a 3rd party through the State respondents whereas the claim of shortfall of the allotted land is through the Army authorities, which appears to be done through Differential Global Position System (DGPS), which according to the respondent Union of India is the latest technology, which is fit to be used in the place like Tawang. Per contra, the petitioners claims that the use of latest technology, like DGPS, would not be appropriate rather the old method of survey through compass and chain would be more accurate and appropriate as the said method was used when the land was allotted in the year 1988. 14. On careful consideration of the respective stands and submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, it is clear that the matter is purely a disputed question of facts as the same pertains to the measurement of the area. This Court is not oblivious to the settled position of law that normally the Writ Court would not embark on to determine a purely disputed question of facts. However, since the allotment of the land to the Indian Army, which has been made in the greater interest of the public and security of the Country and considering the claim of the land owners, who had spared their land for the interest of the Nation, this Court is of the considered view that it would be appropriate to direct the State authorities to resolve the issue by causing re-verification/re-survey of the area. 15. Accordingly, as agreed to by the learned counsels for the parties, this writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the State authorities to cause a re- verification/re-survey of the land allotted to the Indian Army located at Chuje Page No.# 10/10 GG, Tawang, in the presence of all the stakeholders, within a period of 5 (five) months from today. 16. Writ petition stands disposed of, accordingly. Cost(s) made easy. JUDGE Comparing Assistant