High Court restores ownership of land wrongly recorded as govt’s

GANGTOK, 05 Sept: In what is being termed as a landmark judgment, the High Court of Sikkim on 03 September 2012 has given back a petitioner his land which had been wrongly recorded as government land without proper verification of the original land records and without inquiring about the same from the original landowners.
Dr. Doma T Bhutia, Advocate of the petitioner informs that Kumar Pradhan of Rangpo had approached the High Court of Sikkim challenging the survey order of land record of 1979-1980 prepared by the Department of Land Revenue And Disaster Management.
The petitioner had stated that two plots of land belonging to him situated at Sawney and Kumrek areas had been wrongly recorded in the name of government under the said survey conducted by the concerned department in the year 1979-80, and that this had been done in a superficial manner without proper verification from the original lands record or enquiry from the original land owners.
In the course of the hearing, the necessary rectification of the lands bearing no. 2158/P. measuring 1.07 acres have been made and accordingly Parcha Khatian has been issued to him.
With regards to another plot of land no.1100 measuring about 1.16 acres at Sawney under Central Pendam Block falling under Pakyong Sub-division, the DC East has informed that there being a dispute over its title between the petitioner and his paternal uncle, Durga Das Pradhan by a letter dated 13.8.2012 addressed to Additional Advocate General by the DC East, Mr. Kumar was asked to approach the appropriate court of law for the purpose.
The writ petition was heard by the single bench of the Sikkim High Court Justice SP Wangdi.  While disposing the petition, Justice Wangdi observed that since the land is recorded in the name of Kumar Pradhan’s grandfather Harka Bdr. Pradhan, there would be no impediment in getting the land record restored in the name of the grandfather as per the existing Parcha Khatian.
He further directed that the State Respondent may, therefore, take necessary steps for getting the land records restored in the name of Harka Bahadur Pradhan. State counsel, Karma Thinlay Namgyal, submitted that there would be no difficulty to comply with the direction and that he shall convey about it personally to the DC East, for its expeditious compliance.
It was also learnt that a huge forest land measuring 26.2313 hectares is allotted to a private company i.e. Madhya Bharati by the State Government by accepting the compensation from the private company.
The advocate informed that Kumar Pradhan is jubilant and thankful to the State government for restoring his land back to him.
Advocate Dr. Doma T. Bhutia and her juniors have welcomed the outcome of the writ petition and appreciated the positive steps shown by the State and further welcomed the observation of Justice SP Wangdi in the said petition.