Smt. Pratibha Kumari and Others vs State of H.P. and Others

Kurian Joseph, C.J.—The Petitioners in the writ petition had approached this Court to direct the Respondent-State to award compensation for the land taken from them. The learned Single Judge having regard to the questions of the fact involved in the case, dismissed the writ petition with liberty to the Petitioner to seek their remedy before Civil Court. Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, questions of facts cannot be gone into. The learned Counsel for the Appellants submits that since they are the only legal heirs of the original Petitioner who initiated the process and in view of their severe difficulty in pursuing the litigation, they may be permitted to file representation before first Respondent, in which case the first Respondent can look into the facts and take appropriate action in accordance with law and justice. In that view of the matter, we set aside the judgment of the learned Single Judge, and dispose of the writ petition as follows:

Petitioners may file an appropriate representation before first Respondent within a period of one month from today. The matter shall be duly considered by the first Respondent with notice to the Petitioners and appropriate action in accordance with law and justice shall be taken in another four months. We make it clear that we have not gone into the merits of the contentions of the parties and that all the contentions raised by the parties are hence left open.