1 2026:CGHC:27189 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 3150 of 2023 1 - Awadh Ram Karsh S/o Bedram Karsh Aged About 54 Years R/o - Village Dahida, Tahsil Nawagarh, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through- Secretary, Department Of Revenue And Disaster Management, Mahanadi Bhawan, Mantralaya, Naya Raipur, Atal Nagar, Raipur, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh 2 - The Collector Office Of Collectorate,, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh 3 - The Sub Divisional Magistrate (Revenue) Janjgir, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh 4 - Amarnath Shyam The Tahsildar, Office Of Tahsildar Navagarh, District : Janjgir- Champa, Chhattisgarh 5 - Hamraj Khute Patwari Halka No. 8 Village Dahida, Tahsil Navagarh, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh 6 - The Superintendent Of Police Janjgir, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh 7 - The Sub Divisional Officer Police Janjgir, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh 8 - The Station House Officer Navagarh, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner : Shri Ashwani Shukla, Advocate. For State : Dr. Arham Siddiqui, PL. For Respondent No.4 & 5 : Shri Bennoon appears on behalf of Shri Vikas Shrivastava, Advocates. SB: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad Order on Board 02/07/2026 1. Instant writ petition has been filed challenging the order dated 24.04.23 AVINASH SHARMA Digitally signed by AVINASH SHARMA Date: 2026.07.07 11:24:14 +0530 2 passed by respondent no.2 (Annexure P-1) by which the application of the petitioner under Revenue Book Circular, Column No.6-4 for obtaining compensation due to snake bite has been rejected. 2. Necessary facts of the case are that the petitioner had filed application before the respondent no.4 under revenue book circular in Section 6-4 for obtaining gratification of amounting of Rs. 4,00,000/- as compensation as per the norms governing disbursement of compensation to be given to the victim family. The petitioner has also filed death certificate of his wife Mrs. Bhuri Bai who expired on 18.01.21 and the certificate has been issued from Registrar Birth and Death Chhattisgarh Ayur Vigyan Centre Bilaspur on 03.02.21. Respondent no.4 has passed the order on 09.12.21 (Annexure P/4) and stated to register the case and directed the respondent no.5 to submit enquiry report regarding death of petitioner's wife as well as also directed police station Navagarh to submit final report. In non compliance of order of Tahsildar, the Halka Patwari did not submit enquiry report within time and demanded 10% commission then only he will make report therefore the petitioner made complaint on 13.02.23 against the respondent no.5 before respondent no.2 in Jan Darshan whereas the Halka Patwari knowingly disturbed the case before concerned Tahsildar and stated that the deceased who is wife of petitioner has fell down on earth and sustained injuries in right skull of head and expired. Thereafter the respondent no.5 submitted enquiry report, panchnama and nazri naksha before respondent no.4 stating that wife of petitioner fell down on earth from vehicle and received injury on head thereafter she died. Thereafter respondent no.4 has also submitted enquiry report along with statement of villagers and panchnama and stated the case 3 of petitioner does not cover under the revenue book circular 6-4. It is pertinent to mention here that due to malafide intention, the respondent no.4 has wrongly submitted enquiry report without taking statement and signature of petitioner in panchnama therefore the rejection order is illegal and bad in eye of law. Subsequently, respondent no.4 sent the case to respondent no.3 for further steps and thereafter the respondent no.3 has also mentioned the same reason without considering the postmortem report. City Kotwali Police Bilaspur has registered merg investigation No.28/2021 under Section 174 of Cr.P.C. against snake bite case and during the treatment in CIMS, wife of petitioner died on 18.01.21. Thereafter, the expert doctors conducted postmortem of dead body and submitted report in which it is clearly stated that death of deceased is due to snake bite. Respondent no.1 State of Chhattisgarh has issued amended revenue book circular 6-4 on 09.06.15 in which it is clearly stated that if any natural calamity occurs then the dependent of deceased be given financial help of Rs.4,00,000/-atleast. Hence this Petition. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Collector without going into the merits of the case and without perusing the postmortem report has given a finding that the wife of petitioner fell down on the ground due to which she sustained injuries and thereafter succumbed to it. He submits that the said finding is illegal, arbitrary and contrary to law as the Collector while passing the impugned order has not taken into consideration the postmortem report wherein it has been clearly stated that there is snake bite on the left foot of the deceased. As such, the impugned order warrants interference of this Court. 4 4. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State would support the impugned order on submission that according to the report of Halka Patwari, death of the deceased has been caused on 18.02.2021 in CIMS Bilapur due to falling from the vehicle which is confirmed by the spot panchama done by the Tehsildar Navagarh, as such, no relief can be granted to the petitioner. 5. Learned counsel for Respondent Nos. 4 & 5 submits that the impugned order is well merited which does not require interference of this Court. 6. Heard learned counsel for the parties carefully and perused the documents annexed with the petition including charge sheet, from which, it appears that on 18.01.2021 at 10 am, deceased Bhuri Bai, wife of the petitioner suddenly fell infront of her house, for treatment she was taken to District Hospital Janjgir by ambulance vehicle from where on referral she was admitted to CIMS Bilaspur for treatment and after some time, deceased died during treatment. From the report of Tehsildar dated 15.03.2023, it is evident that deceased died during treatment in the hospital wherein she was admitted upon falling from vehicle. The said finding has been affirmed by the Sub- Divisional Officer (Revenue) Janjgir Champa. 7. It is true that the post-mortem report records the cause of death as snakebite over the left foot. However, a careful examination of the record reveals that no viscera was preserved during the post-mortem examination for chemical analysis. Consequently, no Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report is available to establish the presence of snake venom in the body of the deceased. Thus, although the post-mortem report refers to snakebite, the same is not corroborated by any scientific or forensic evidence establishing that the death was caused due to envenomation. 5 8. Moreover, in compliance of the direction of Tehisldar, Patwari has inspected the spot and record the statement of witnesses who are neighbour of the deceased. The witnesses have categorically stated that the deceased died from falling from the vehicle. The statements of independent witnesses support the conclusion arrived at by the revenue authorities. 9. In the absence of any conclusive scientific evidence corroborating the petitioner's claim that the death occurred due to snakebite, this Court finds no reason to disbelieve the concurrent findings recorded by the competent revenue authorities. The scope of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution does not extend to reappreciation of evidence where the findings are based on material available on record and are neither arbitrary nor perverse. 10.In view of the foregoing discussion, this Court is of the considered opinion that the impugned order does not suffer from any illegality, perversity or jurisdictional error warranting interference in exercise of the extraordinary writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. 11.Accordingly, the writ petition, being devoid of merit, is dismissed. Sd/- (Amitendra Kishore Prasad) Judge Avinash