Sarita Jain vs State Of Chhattisgarh

The instant writ petition has been filed assailing the order dated 30.03.2022 passed by the Chhattisgarh Board of Revenue, Bilaspur, in Revision Case No.RN.01/R/A-21/218/2012-Village/Nagar-Aghanpur, Tehsil Jagdalpur, District Bastar. Vide the said impugned order the Board of Revenue has affirmed the order passed by the Commissioner, Bastar Division, Jagdalpur in suo-motu Revision Case No.37/A-21/2010-11 dated 28.01.2012, whereby the Commissioner had set aside the order of the Collector dated 18.03.2009 which was an order permitting to sale the property which originally stood in the name of Aboriginal Tribes and had remitted the matter back to the District Collector for re-appreciation of the facts and circumstances of the case and to pass a fresh order after hearing all the parties to the dispute.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that it is a case where the disputed property originally stood in the name of respondents No.2 to 10 who in turn, with the permission of the Collector obtained on 18.03.2009 (which in the instant case seems to be 11.09.2009 and in the order of the Commissioner seems to have been inadvertently mentioned as 18.03.2009) had sold the property to the petitioner vide sale deed dated 11.12.2009. However, subsequently there was a suo-motu revision initiated by the Divisional Commissioner and the Divisional Commissioner vide Annexure P/6 dated 28.01.2012 had set aside all the orders passed by the District Collector and remanded the matter back holding it to be not in accordance with law. The Commissioner in the course of passing of the order Annexure P/6 dated 28.01.2012 has reached to the following conclusion. The relevant portion of which is reproduced hereinunder:

It is this order which was subsequently challenged by the petitioner before the Chhattisgarh Board of Revenue and the Board of Revenue has now passed the impugned order Annexure P/1 dated 30.03.2022 rejecting the revision of the petitioner affirming the order passed by the Commissioner which has led to the filing of the present writ petition.

On a plain perusal of the order passed by the Commissioner what requires to be appreciated is the fact that the Commissioner has only set aside the order with certain observations and has left it for the Collector to pass a fresh order after re-appreciating all the contentions and the submissions that the parties would be raising on its own merits in accordance with law. This in other word means that the matter has only been remanded back by the Commissioner for a fresh adjudication of the dispute after giving a fair and reasonable opportunity of hearing to all the parties to the dispute. By the said order of the Commissioner which now stands affirmed by the Board of Revenue, this court does not find any prejudice that would be caused to the petitioner as of now as the District Collector is yet to take a decision on merits in accordance with the provisions of law.

Given the fact that no prejudice has been caused to the petitioner by the order of the Commissioner which now stands affirmed by the Chhattisgarh Board of Revenue, it would not be proper for this court to entertain the writ petition at this juncture exercising the extraordinary powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The writ petition accordingly stands disposed of reserving the right of the petitioner to approach the District Collector in terms of the order of the Commissioner and to contest the case on its merits.

Needless to mention that the petitioner would still have a right to assail the order, if at all if the District Collector passes an order detrimental to the interest of the petitioner.