Patna High Court

Shashi Kant ShekharversusThe State of Bihar

Decided: 10 March 2026
Disposal: DISPOSED
Bench: RAJIV ROY

Holding

The court quashed the letter ordering demolition of plot No. 2951, held that the plot belongs to the petitioner, and ordered payment of Rs. 10,000 compensation.

Summary

The petitioner, Shashi Kant Shekhar, purchased plot No. 2951 in an auction conducted by the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Patna, for Rs. 5.63 crore, a sale that became final. The State of Bihar officials later issued a letter directing demolition of the boundary wall and construction of a Scheduled Caste Residential Girls High School on the same plot, treating it as "Gair Majarua" (public) land. The petitioner filed a writ petition seeking mandamus, prohibition and certiorari to stop the interference, to quash the demolition order, and to obtain compensation. The High Court examined the auction order, the decree of Title Suit No. 42 of 1977, and the respondents' affidavits, finding that plot 2951 was indeed part of the decree and lawfully owned by the petitioner. Consequently, the court quashed the letter ordering demolition, directed the respondents to pay Rs. 10,000 as compensation, and disposed of the petition with those observations.

Issues considered

Whether the respondents, claiming the land to be "Gair Majarua" public land, can lawfully interfere with the petitioner's possession of plot No. 2951 purchased at auction.
Whether the letter dated 31.05.2023 directing demolition of the boundary wall and construction of a school is valid and can be set aside by a writ of certiorari.
Whether the petitioner is entitled to a writ of mandamus or prohibition to restrain further acts of the respondents.
Whether the petitioner is entitled to compensation for the wrongful demolition and loss of possession.

Legislation cited

Subjects

auction sale
land possession
writ of mandamus
writ of prohibition
writ of certiorari
public land vs private land
Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act
compensation
government land
scheduled caste school

Judgment

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.8959 of 2023
======================================================
Shashi Kant Shekhar Son of Sri Jai Prakash Narayan Resident of Flat No.-
C/5, Tribhuvan Apartment, Dr. B. Bhattacharya Road, Patel Nagar, P.S.-
Shastri Nagar, Patna-800023.

... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The State of Bihar through the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar, Patna.
2. The Principal Secretary, Revenue and Land Reforms Department,
Government of Bihar, Patna.
3. The District Magistrate, Siwan.
4. Sub-Divisional Officer, Siwan.
5. District Welfare Officer, Siwan.
6. Circle Officer, Pachrukhi, Dist.-Siwan.

... ... Respondent/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Rajendra Narain, Sr. Advocate
Mrs. Anju Narain, Advocate
Mr. Umesh Kr. Roy, Advocate
Mrs. Annapurna Sinha, Advocate
Mr. Anant Kr. Sinha, Advocate
For the Respondent/s : Mr. Sajid Salim Khan (Sc25)
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV ROY
ORAL ORDER

9 10-03-2026 Heard Mr. Rajendra Narain, learned Senior counsel

for the petitioner duly assisted by Mrs. Anju Narain and Mr. Arif

Daula Siddiqui, learned State counsel.

2. The present petition has been preferred for the

following relief(s):

“(i) issuance of an appropriate writ

including a writ in the nature of writ of mandamus

commanding the respondents to forthwith stop

their various acts of interference in the peaceful
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enjoyment of the property detailed in this writ

petition and annexures which were auction-sold /

auction-purchased for Rs. 5.63 Cr. on 30.07.2021

to the writ petitioner and others jointly under

orders of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (in short

DRT), Patna, which has attained finality, and so no

one including any of the respondents be permitted

to disturb the petitioners in any manner on any

occasion for any reasons.

(ii) issuance of an appropriate writ

including a writ in the nature of writ of prohibition

restraining the respondents from taking any

forcible possession of the petitioner's auction-

purchased land in the name of any work, illegally

and erroneously, thinking and treating it to be

'Gair Majarua Malik' land but it is not so as it is

'raiyati' land as obvious from the records of more

than 100 years ago and that position has been

continuing. It was settled, mutated, mortgaged and

decided by the Court to be auction-sold in

execution of Court decree and ultimately auction-

sold by the DRT, Patna.
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Therefore, the action of the respondents

in treating the plot no. 2951 of Khata no. 159 of

Mauza Jasauli Kherg, P.S. -Pachrukhi, District -

Siwan as 'Gair Majarua' / public land and forcibly

going to start construction over the petitioner's

auction-purchased land, is totally illegal, perverse,

unsustainable and unpardonable and so the

respondents deserve to be adequately dealt with for

such high-handed action.

(iii) issuance of an appropriate writ

including a writ in the nature of writ of certiorari

quashing the communication contained in letter no.

1047 dated 31.05.2023 by the District Welfare

Officer, Siwan, to the Circle Officer, Pachrukhi,

asking him to get the boundary wall over the land

of portion of Plot no. 2951 & 2952 of Khata no.

159, demolished, destroyed on 02.06.2023 with the

aid of police force, and proceed for construction.

(iv) issuance of any other appropriate

writ(s), order(s), direction(s) as may be deemed fit

and proper in the facts and circumstances of the

case.”
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3. The facts relating to the present writ petition is/are

as follows:

4. The petitioner and others came to know from

advertisement/public notice on behalf of Debt Recovery

Tribunal, Patna that in connection with Execution Case no. 03

of 1988 (Central Bank of India vs M/s Industrial

Corporation Pvt. Ltd.) which was pending and continuing in

the Court of learned Sub-Judge, Siwan, for the execution of

decree in favour of ‘the Bank’ in respect of the suit property

which got transferred to ‘the DRT, Patna’, on its establishment

under the Recovery of Debts (due to Banks and Financial

Institutions Act, 1993, later amended and known as the

Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993) and since then

continuing in the DRT as Execution case no. 23 of 1999.

5. In the said execution proceeding and in connection

with corresponding RP Case no. 80 of 2000 and 44 of 2001, an

order was passed for auction/sale of the properties mentioned in

the said public notice to be auctioned on 30.07.2021. Schedule

of property containing the various properties of different plot

numbers of various khata numbers of Mauza Jasuali Kherg

and Mauza Pachrukhi, both in Thana Pachrukhi, District

Siwan, and the terms and conditions of the auction were all
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given in the said public notice.

6. The further case of the petitioner is that the

majority of the lands in question of the then Pachrukhi Sugar

Mills were within an enclosed boundary wall lying between the

main Siwan - Chhapra railway line/main Siwan - Chhapra

PWD road since decades.

7. Further, for the establishment and running of the

said sugar mills, the then promoters got various lands

transferred in the name of Industrial Corporation Limited

through registered deed dated 26.04.1924. The then ex-landlord

also settled some lands through registered deed dated

12.06.1921 in favour of the promoters. It also included some

gair majarua malik lands also which had been transferred in

favour of promoters and so they no longer remained as gair

majarua malik lands.

8. Later, Jamabandi was created in favour of the Sugar

mills which had taken loan from the Central Bank of India after

mortgaging its properties including lands and on account of

non-repayment of the loan, the mortgaged properties were put

on auction sale and were auction-sold.

9. The petitioner and others participated in the said

auction sale of the landed properties. It would be relevant to
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state here that in the auction sale of various landed properties of

the said sugar mills, for the sake of proper identification and

marking of the lands, they had been earmarked as lot wise and

blocks of plots with consolidated numbers (different from

revenue record numbers of khata and khesra for the purpose of

easy identification).

10. The case of the petitioner is that he participated in

the auction of lands of various plots of different khata

measuring total 14 bigha 8 kattha 8 dhur and alongwith 10

others were jointly announced as the highest bidders at Rs. 5.63

crores decided in their favour.

11. On 18.09.2021, the Recovery Officer of ‘the

DRT’, Patna passed an order in R.P. Case No. 80/2000 and R.P.

Case No. 44/2001 that the landed properties of M/s Industrial

Corporation Pvt. Ltd., Pachrukhi, Siwan (measuring 14

bigha 8 kattha 8 dhur of various plot numbers of different khata

nos.) had been auction-sold in favour of the petitioner and 10

others jointly, who had deposited the total amount of Rs. 5.63

crores along with poundage fee of Rs. 5,63,050/-.

12. The details of the land with Khata, Khesra nos,

and respective areas of the plots and total measuring 14 bigha 8

kattha 8 dhur were all given in the said order. These lands
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include the land measuring 5 kattha 15 dhur of Plot no. 2951

of the said Sugar Mills.

13. The Recovery Officer of the DRT, Patna, also

issued the Sale Certificate dated 18.09.2021 in this regard. The

contention of the petitioner is that the Plot no. 2951 is a very big

plot and parts of it have been sold to other parties/auction-

purchasers too. To support the case, a copy of the survey map of

the area containing the lands of the Sugar Mills in question has

also been attached.

14. Learned Senior counsel for the petitioner submits

that not only they got the possession, the District

Administration, the Police Officials actually assisted in the

process which followed the construction of the boundary wall.

The categorical submission with the help of affidavit is that the

plot no. 2951 is also part of the decree and purchased by him

which is inside the boundary wall so constructed.

15. The submission is that the petitioner was surprised

to find the letter no. 1047 dated 31.05.2023 issued by the

District Welfare Officer, Siwan and addressed to the Circle

Officer, Pachrukhi, Siwan (Annexure-5 to the petition) which

recorded that the Scheduled Caste Residential Girls High

School can be constructed on the said plot nos. 2951 and 2952
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and for which boundary wall can be demolished.

16. Learned Senior counsel for the petitioner submits

that he has no objection to the use of plot no. 2952, but

certainly, he being purchaser of the plot no. 2951, the

respondents completely acted illegally and knowing well about

plot no. 2951 being taken by the petitioners in an auction, the

letter was issued when there was summer vacation in the Patna

High Court so that the petitioner cannot approach the Court. It

was done only on 26.06.2023 by filing the writ petition when

the Court reopened.

17. On 02.12.2023, a Bench of this Court directed the

State-respondents to file affidavit while granting interim

protection to the petitioner. It was followed by this Court by

taking up the matter on 18.03.2024 and while rejecting the

report submitted by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Sadar as being

cryptic in view of the assertion in the writ petition; the District

Magistrate, Siwan was directed to conduct a fresh inquiry report

and then file an affidavit.

18. Pursuant thereto, a counter-affidavit has come on

behalf of the respondents and learned State counsel took this

Court to paragraph no. 4 to show that treating the land to be a

government land, it was transferred for the construction of
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Scheduled Caste Residential Girls High School vide Transfer

Record No. 03 of 2018-19 which followed the letter in

question.

19. This Court has also taken note of the paragraph

no. 6 of the supplementary counter-affidavit filed by the Circle

Officer, Pachrukhi, Siwan which clearly shows complete non-

application of mind on the part of the respondents.

20. Paragraph-6 of the said affidavit dated 08.10.2024

read as follows:

6. That the above report stated that-

“(i) that Khata No. 151, Plot No. 2951,

area 3 Bigha 17 Kattha 15 Dhur is mentioned in

the decree dated 23.01.1982 passed in T.S. No. 42

of 1977. However, the land transferred for the

construction of Schedule Caste Residential Girl

High School is Plot No. 2951, 2952 under Khata

No. 159.

(ii) the photocopy of the certified copy of

the said decree has been provided by the petitioner.

(iii) that the land possession certificate

issued on 15.07.1991 could not be found in Circle

Office, Pachrukhi.”
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(emphasis added)

21. A perusal of the aforesaid paragraph 6 shows that

the respondents actually acknowledge that the plot no. 2951 is

part of the decree dated 23.01.1982 passed in the Title Suit No.

42 of 1977. This Court has also gone through the Decree in T.S.

NO. 42 of 1977 and column 40 records plot no. 2951.

22. This Court has already recorded the submissions

of the learned Senior Counsel that his case is restricted only to

the plot no. 2951 and not to 2952. The second affidavit of the

State acknowledges that the plot no. 2951 was part of the Title

Suit No. 42 of 1977 which followed the auction/sell/purchase of

the land by the petitioner and subsequent construction of the

boundary wall.

23. In that background, the writ petition succeeds so

far as the plot no. 2951 is concerned. The letter no. 1047 dated

31.05.2023 issued by the District Welfare Officer, Siwan to the

Circle Officer, Pachrukhi, Siwan (Annexure-5 to the petition) is

quashed so far as plot no. 2951 is concerned making it clear that

no order is passed so far as the plot no. 2952 is concerned.

24. As the petitioner has suffered for three years for

no fault of him as despite paying a huge amount which followed

transfer of the land and construction of the boundary wall, still,
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without looking into all the facts, the order in question was

passed which followed demolition, he needs to be compensated.

This in the background of the fact that in the last affidavit, the

respondents themselves have stated that the plot no. 2951 was

part of Title Suit No. 42 of 1977.

25. The cost is quantified as Rs. 10,000/- which will

be paid to the petitioner by the respondents in next four weeks

and failure to do so, appropriate steps be taken for the

realization of the amount in accordance with law.

26. The writ petition stands disposed of with the

aforesaid observation.

(Rajiv Roy, J)
Adnan/-

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