-1- 2025:CGHC:17862 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 945 of 2017 1 - Vijay Prakash Yadav S/o Shri Bodhram Yadav Aged About 33 Years R/o Village Podi, Tah. Katghora, Distt. Korba Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh. ... Petitioner versus 1 - South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. Through The Director Personnel, Seepat, Road, Bilaspur Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh 2 - Chief General Manager, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd., Gavera Extension Opencast Project, Gavera Area, Distt. Korba Chhattisgarh, District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 3 - Land Revenue Officer South Eastern Coalfields Ltd., Office Of The General Manager, Gavera Extension Opencast Project, Gavera Area, Distt. Korba Chhattisgarh, District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 4 - Collector, Korba, District Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh. ... Respondent(s) with WPS No. 3170 of 2017 1 - Vedmani Rathore S/o Amarnarth Rathore, Aged About 48 Years R/o Village Jharna, P O Baradwar, Tahsil Champa, District Janjgir Champa Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh --- Petitioner versus 1 - South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. Through The Director Personnel , Seepat Road, Bilaspur Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh 2 - Chief General Manager, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd., Gavera Extension Opencast Project, Gavera Area, District Korba Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 3 - Land Revenue Officer, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd., Office Of The General Manager, Gavera Extension Opencast Project, Gavera Area, District Korba Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 4 - Collector, Korba, District Korba Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh. ---- Respondents SMT NIRMALA RAO -2- with WPS No. 3208 of 2017 1 - Chediram Dhobi, S/o Phool Sai Aged About 50 Years R/o Village Soniapath, Post Office Saragaon, Tahsil Champa, District Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh. --- Petitioner versus 1 - South Eastern Coalfields Ltd., Through The Director Personnel , Seepat Road, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh., Chhattisgarh 2 - Chief General Manager, South Eastern Coalfields Limited, Gavera Extension Coalfields Limited, Gavera Area, District Korba, Chhattisgarh., District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 3 - Land Revenue Officer, South Eastern Coalfields Limited, Office Of The General Manager, Gavera Area, District Korba, Chhattisgarh. 4 - Collector, Korba, District Korba, Chhattisgarh. --- Respondent(s) For Petitioners : Mr. Sanjay Kumar Agrawal, Advocate. For Respondents No.1 to 3 : Mr. Sudhir Bajpai, Advocate in WPS Nos. 945 of 2017 & 3208 of 2017. Ms. Priya Mishra, Advocate holding the brief of Shri Shailendra Shukla, Advocate in WPS No.3170 of 2017. For Respondent/ State : Mr. Pramod Shrivastava, Dy.G.A. and Mr. Pramod Ramteke, P.L. Hon'ble Shri Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey Order on Board 21.04.2025 1) By way of these writ petitions, the petitioners are seeking a direction to the respondent authorities to provide them employment in lieu of the acquisition of their lands as per the Rehabilitation Policy of 1991, which was in force at the time when their lands were acquired. 2) Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners would submit that the Central Government initiated the process of land acquisition in 2001 and 2004 for the -3- ‘Gevra Project’ of SECL for coal mining. He would further submit that Section 4 Notification was issued in the 2001 and 2004 and the compensation was dtermined in the year 2013. He would also submit that during the acquisition proceedings, at the time of publication of Section 4 notification, respondent/ SECL had agreed to provide employment to one of the members of each displaced family as per the Rehabilitation Policy of 1991. He would contend that Respondent No. 3 took possession of the lands and later on, failed to offer employment to the petitioners on the ground that the landholdings of the petitioners are less than 2 acres and their claims are not covered under the 2012 Policy of Coal India Limited (CIL); thus, he prays that these petitions may be allowed, and the respondent authorities may be directed to provide employment to the petitioners. 3) On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for the SECL submits that the original land owners have already been paid compensation. It is also submitted that according to the rehabilitation and resettlement policy of CIL, 2012, however, the petitioners received compensation in lieu of employment. 4) Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the return filed by the SECL. 5) Taking into consideration the fact that the petitioners have already accepted the compensation in lieu of employment, nothing survives for adjudication. Consequently, these writ petitions fail and are hereby dismissed. However, the petitioners would be at liberty to approach this Court if the cause of action still survives. Sd/- (Rakesh Mohan Pandey) Judge Nimmi