30.09.2026 Sl. No. 22 (DL) Ct.No.19 (Susanta) (Bench I.D. 266052) WPA 13359 of 2026 Sangita Mookherjee & Ors. Vs. The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Amit Kuamr Pan, Mr. Dip Narayan Mukherjee, Ms. Ananya Chakraborty, Ms. Tanusri Santra, … for the Petitioners. Mr. S. N. Mitra, Ld. AG, Mr. Nilanjan Bhattacharjee, Sr. S.C, Ms. Jayita Dhar Chakraborty, …. For the State. Mr. Subhankar Chakraborty, Ms. Sayani Gupta, Mr. Atindra Rai, … for the KMDA. 1. Mr. Pan appears on behalf of the writ petitioners. The respondent State is represented by the learned Advocate General. 2. The subject matter of the instant writ petition is the alleged inadequacy of compensation in respect of Case No. LA-30/1/24-25. 3. At the time of hearing, Mr. Pan, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the writ petitioners, submits before this Court that in terms of the order dated 21.08.2017 passed by a coordinate Bench of this Court, and as has been affirmed by a Division Bench of this Court in MAT 347 of 2016, in connection with the aforementioned land acquisition case, an award was declared under Act XXX of 2013 (‘said Act in 2 short), which, in the considered view of the writ petitioners, is very much inadequate inasmuch as the basic parameters for assessment of the compensation have not been considered by respondent no. 2, that is the jurisdictional Collector. 4. At this juncture, Mr. Pan took me to Section 51 and Section 64 of the said Act. It is submitted by Mr. Pan that it is the legislative mandate that the State Government is duty-bound to establish one or more authorities to be known as the "Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority". 5. It is further submitted by Mr. Pan that Section 64 of the said Act also mandates that in the event any person who has not accepted the award may, by written application to the Collector, require that the matter be referred by the Collector for the determination of the authority within the meaning of Section 51 of the said Act and in that event, the Collector shall, within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the said application for reference, make a reference to the appropriate Authority. 6. It is submitted by Mr. 6. It is submitted by Mr. Pan that, for the reasons best known to the respondent State, no authority under Section 51 of the Act of 2013 has been constituted and thus, finding no other alternative, the writ petitioner has approached this Court with a prayer for reassessment of the impugned compensation, as has been done by the respondent no. 2 authority. 3 7. It is further submitted by Mr. Pan that, on account of inaction and/or non-action, a litigant cannot be remediless; and in that event, the high prerogative writ jurisdiction can be invoked for granting appropriate relief to the writ petitioners. 8. Per contra, learned Advocate General appearing on behalf of the respondent State, upon instruction, submits before this Court that the respondent State is now agreeable principally to implement Act XXX of 2013 within the territory of West Bengal in its letter and spirit and to that effect, the respondent State is making the best possible endeavour to take appropriate steps for the establishment of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority (‘Authority’ in short) for adjudication of the references to be made by the jurisdictional Collectors. 9. On being asked by this Court, learned Advocate General for the State could not give any specific date by which the said Authority would be constituted and would start functioning. 10. In reply, Mr. Pan contended that on account of such uncertainty, the instant writ petition may be entertained and appropriate relief may be granted to the writ petitioner. 11. It is further submitted by Mr. Pan that since Act XXX of 2013 has already been implemented, and that there cannot be any difficulty on the part of the respondent State to establish the said authority. 4 12. On careful perusal of the entire materials as placed before this Court and after hearing the learned advocates for the contending parties, this Court is of the considered view that when the learned Advocate General for the State is submitting before this Court that the respondent State has principally decided to implement Act XXX of 2013 in the territory of West Bengal, this Court has every reason to believe that the respondent State would also constitute and/or establish the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority. 13. 13. However, keeping in mind that for a considerable period of time the present writ petitioners remain remediless on account of non- availability of forum for re-assessment of the compensation by way of reference, this Court while disposing of the instant writ petition directs the Additional Chief Secretary, Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Department, Government of West Bengal to constitute and/or establish Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority in the State of West Bengal and to that effect a notification is to be published positively within 60 working days from the date of passing of this order. 14. This Court further directs that as soon as the said notification is published by the respondent State, the respondent no. 2 authority is directed to make a reference in respect of the compensation as 5 has been determined by him in respect of the writ petitioners herein to the said authority within a period of 15 working days from the said day after giving prior notice to the writ petitioners and upon such reference, the said authority shall dispose of such reference also within 60 days from the date of making such reference. 15. It is needless to mention that in the said reference such authority shall give due opportunity of hearing to the present writ petitioners. 16. The time limits as fixed by this Court are peremptory and mandatory. 17. With the aforementioned observation the instant writ petition is disposed of. 18. Before parting with, this Court sincerely expects that the learned Advocate General shall communicate to the State Government the anxiety of this Court as well as the anxiety of the many litigants who are feeling aggrieved with the assessed compensation in terms of Act XXX of 2013 by the jurisdictional Land Acquisition Collector. (Partha Sarathi Sen, J.)