1 2026:CGHC:18758 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 667 of 2026 1 - Aditya Singh Rajput S/o Sher Singh Rajput Aged About 21 Years R/o Ward No. 5, Village- Lalpur, Police Station- Ratanpur, District- Bilaspur (C.G.) ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary, Department Of Revenue And Disaster Management, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Nawa Raipur, Atal Nagar, District- Raipur (C.G.) 2 - Collector Bilaspur, District- Bilaspur (C.G.) 3 - Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue) Kota, District- Bilaspur (C.G.) 4 - Tahsildar Tahsil - Ratanpur, District- Bilaspur (C.G.) ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s) : Shri Chandrikaditya Pandey, Advocate. For Respondent(s) : Shri Soumitra Kesharwani, PL. Hon’ble Mr. Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad Order on Board 23/04/2026 1. This Writ Petition has been filed by the petitioner for the following reliefs:- 10.1 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire records in relates to the case of the petitioner from the possession of respondents for its kind perusal. 10.2 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondent authorities to forthwith disburse/pay the recommended ex-gratia compensation Rs.4,00,000/- to the petitioner, along with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the SDO's recommendation i.e. AVINASH SHARMA Digitally signed by AVINASH SHARMA Date: 2026.04.27 18:05:13 +0530 2 02.01.2025. 10.3 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondents to complete all formalities and release the amount within a stipulated time frame about 30 days from the date of order passed by this Hon'ble Court. 10.4 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue appropriate directions for enquiry into the inordinate delay/inaction and for taking disciplinary action against the erring officials responsible for the delay. 10.5 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to award costs of the petition to the petitioner. 10.6 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to grant any other relief/relief's in favour of the petitioner, which the Hon'ble Court deemed fit & just in the facts and circumstances of the case, including awarding of the costs to the petitioner. 2. Necessary facts of the case are that petitioner is resident of Village - Lalpur, Tahsil -Ratanpur, District Bilaspur (C.G.) who along with informant Pradeep Singh Thakur went to Police Station Ratanpur to lodge merg intimation which was registered as Merg No. 118/2023 under Section 174 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for death of mother of the petitioner namely Smt. Arti Singh Rajput W/o Sher Singh Rajput, aged about 50 years due to drowning while having bath in Gangasagar Pond, situated within Village Lalpur, Police Station Ratanpur, on 24.11.2023. The merg enquiry was conducted by the police, whereby the post mortem report was received, death certificate was also received and on 27.01.2024, the Police Station - Ratanpur sent a letter to the learned Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kota, Bilaspur (C.G.) to file/close the merg intimation No. 118/2023 on the ground that the spot inspection was conducted, witness of panchnama and relative, friends of the deceased were enquired and it was found during entire merg enquiry that on 24.11.2023 at about 9.00 to 10.00 am morning, the deceased died of drowning into Gangasagar pond in village 3 Lalpur and the doctor of CHC, Ratanpur has also opined in post mortem report that the cause of death is drowning. It was further stated that the relatives and other witnesses have also not drawn any kind of suspicion on anyone, therefore, the merg enquiry may be permitted to file/close and thereafter on the basis of instructions, the final enquiry report was prepared on 13.09.2024. After getting the application, Tahsildar, Ratanpur called a report by Halka Patwari who submitted panchnama mentioning therein that mother of the petitioner died of drowning on 24.11.2023 and thereafter, the learned Tahsildar sent the enquiry report to the learned Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue) providing compensation to the petitioner of Rs. 4 lakh in accordance with Revenue Book Circular No. 6(4) Para-6(a). On the basis of enquiry report sent by the learned Tahsildar, the learned Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue), Kota sent the entire file along with recommendation for granting compensation in favour of the petitioner under Revenue Book Circular, who called family tree from the petitioner, then the petitioner submitted a family-tree and consent letter from other family members namely Deepika Singh D/o Shri Sher Singh, Archana Singh D/o Shri Sher Singh, Seema Singh D/o Shri Sher Singh and Shri Sher Singh S/o Shri Kripal Singh who executed a consent letter in favour of the petitioner regarding giving the entire compensation amount to the petitioner. The proceeding details received from portal shows that the file was sent to the court of learned Tahsildar, Ratanpur which was received on 16.06.2025 and the next date of hearing was fixed as 26.06.2025 and the petitioner tried to submit the consent letter before the learned Tahsildar but the file could not be placed on the table of learned Tahsildar for hearing and subsequently, without getting the file, the petitioner was given date for appearance. The petitioner preferred an application before the 4 learned Collector on 11.11.2025 but looking to the inaction after application dated 11.11.2025, the petitioner preferred an application before the Hon'ble Chief Minister of the State through online mode on 01.01.2026 and also sent applications to the Hon'ble Revenue venue Minister Shri Tankram Verma on 06.01.2026, learned Tahsildar on 12.01.2026, learned Collector on 20.01.2026. The learned Tahsildar started a proceeding under RBC and after recommendation by the learned Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue) and direction by the learned Additional Collector dated 27.05.2025, the file was received by the learned Court of Tahsildar on 16.06.2025, but thereafter no proceeding is going on and despite applications, no steps were taken, which is bad, illegal, arbitrary, contrary to provisions of Revenue Book Circular and it is also violation of principles of natural justice as well as Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Hence this petition. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondent authorities are not disbursing the recommended compensation amount of Rs.4,00,000/- to the petitioner on account of death of mother of petitioner namely Arti Singh due to drowning in pond. Hence appropriate direction for grant of compensation may kindly be issued. 4. On the other hand, learned State counsel has drawn attention of this Court towards order dated 27.05.2025 passed by Additional Collector, Bilaspur C.G. whereby he has remitted the matter to the SDO (Revenue) on a point of consideration that since inaddition to the petitioner, Shersingh/husband and Seema singh, Deepika Singh and Archana Singh/ Daughter of the deceased Arti Singh are also her dependents then why only the petitioner be granted compensation. As such, the amount of compensation has not yet been 5 disbursed. Learned State counsel submits that if the claimants/dependents of the deceased file a joint application in this regard then the authorities will consider and act upon the same. 5. Considering the facts situation of the case, particularly the submission made by leaned State counsel that if a joint application by all the dependents of the deceased will be filed for compensation then the same will be considered by the authorities and further because of the reason that compensation has been calculated and not yet disbursed, this Court directs the petitioner and all the dependents of the deceased to file a joint application for compensation within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order. In the event of such a joint application being filed, the authorities concerned are directed to consider and decide the said application in light of the compensation already calculated and shall pass appropriate orders for grant of compensation in accordance with law. 6. With the aforesaid direction, this Writ Petition is disposed of. 7. It is made clear that when all the dependents of the deceased would file joint application and appear before the authorities then only compensation will be disbursed. Sd/- (Amitendra Kishore Prasad) Judge Avinash