1 2026:CGHC:18543 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 1833 of 2026 Smt. Geeta Yadav W/o Late Bharat Lal Yadav Aged About 40 Years R/o Village Devri, Kurrubhatha, Tahsil Raigarh, District Raigarh (C.G.) ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Secretary, Department Of Revenue And Disaster Management Mahanadi Bhawan, Atal Nagar, Naya Mantralaya Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 2 - Collector Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh 3 - Deputy Collector Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh 4 - Sub Divisional Officer (Revenue) Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh 5 – Tahsildar, Tahsil Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh 6 - District Treasury Officer Raigarh, District Raigarh Chhattisgarh ... Respondents (Cause title is taken from Case Information System) For Petitioner : Mr. Chandrasen Chouhan, Advocate For Respondents/State : Mr. Amit Nayak, Panel Lawyer SOURABH BHILWAR Digitally signed by SOURABH BHILWAR Date: 2026.04.24 11:06:56 +0530 2 (Hon’ble Shri Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad) Order on Board 23/04/2026 1. By way of the present writ petition, the petitioner seeks quashment of the order dated 23/09/2024 passed by respondent No. 3, and further seeks a direction to the respondent authorities to consider and grant compensation to the petitioner to the tune of Rs. 4,00,000/- along with applicable interest, in accordance with the relevant guidelines/circulars issued by the State Government, within a stipulated period. 2. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the husband of the petitioner died due to drowning and an FIR has been lodged, pursuant to which investigation has been completed. It is further submitted that the postmortem report also confirms that the cause of death was drowning. Despite the aforesaid documentary evidence having been produced before the concerned Tahsildar, the Deputy Collector, Raigarh has passed the impugned order dated 23/09/2024 (Annexure P/1) holding that the case of the petitioner does not fall under Clause 6(4) of the Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular, as amended on 01/12/2022. It is contended that the said order is illegal and contrary to law. Learned counsel further submits that in similar circumstances, this Court has granted compensation and the case of the petitioner is similar and covered under Clause 6(4) of the Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular, therefore, appropriate directions be issued in favour of the petitioner. 3 3. Learned counsel appearing for the respondents/State also fairly submits that the case of the petitioner is covered under Clause 6(4) of the Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular and the same shall be considered in accordance with law and the applicable circular/guidelines. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record. 5. This Court in Aasho Bai and Others v. State of Chhattisgarh and Others, WPC No. 3167/2018 categorically held that the compensation under Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular should be awarded to nearest dependent of a person who died due to fall in well. The relevant paragraph of the judgment is produced as under:- “...the State Government has itself issued the circular for awarding compensation to the nearest dependent/legal representative of a person who died on account of natural calamity or due to fall in river, tank, dam, well, nahar, or nallah, there is no reason as to why the appellants should not be allowed to avail the benefit of the circular of the State Government. If a person falls through the bridge and suffers injuries after falling into the river or nallah the same would amount accidental death attracting clause Five (5) of the circular dated 09.06.2015” 6. In view of the aforesaid legal position and upon consideration of the material available on record, this Court is of the opinion that the impugned order dated 23/09/2024 passed by respondent No. 4 3 is unsustainable in law, as the death of the petitioner’s husband due to drowning is duly supported by the FIR, investigation report, and postmortem report, and clearly falls within the ambit of Clause 6(4) of the Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular. 7. Accordingly, the concerned authorities are directed to make payment of compensation of Rs. 4,00,000/- to the petitioner, who is the wife of the deceased, who died on account of drowning, in terms of the clause 6(4) of the Chhattisgarh Revenue Book Circular, within a period of three months from the date of production of certified copy of this order. 8. Consequently, the writ petition is allowed to the above extent. Sd/- (Amitendra Kishore Prasad) JUDGE $. Bhilwar