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The Telangana High Court dismissed an appeal filed by Mohan Rao, the competent officer appointed under section of Evacuee Interest Separation Act-1951, challenging imposition of ₹ 50,000 costs on him by a single judge for failing ‘to settle a land dispute even after a period of 25 years’.
A division bench of Justices Moushumi Bhattacharya and Gadi Praveen Kumar observed “it is truly startling” that the competent officer had kept the file pending for 25 years. “What is more shocking is the complete abdication of responsibility by the officer in sheepishly seeking shelter under the 2005 Act”, the bench said in its order.
The competent officer contended that he was divested of the responsibility to finalise the land dispute since the power to decide the matter was delegated the Senior Civil Judge of Tis Hazari court in Delhi. Ruling that the officer’s contention was not correct, the bench noted that he had no credible answer to the notification issued in 1980 which amply made clear that the delegation was only with regard to Evacuee properties located in Delhi.
The officer also failed to inform the court that the residuary files relating to evacuee properties were transferred to the government of Andhra Pradesh, the bench held. The 1951 Act was introduced for settling the property claims of persons who had been displaced during the partition and the related strife in India. The competent officer “not only frustrated the object of the Act but also deprived two generations of the claimed owners of the land and forced them to litigate before the courts by sitting over the application for 25 years,” the bench said.
The bench noted that the “shock expressed by the single judge and imposition of costs is fully justified”. It added that the appeal was completely misconceived, meritless and gained with mala fides in misleading the court. The injury caused to the petitioner due to the inaction of the officer “cannot be measured in monetary terms”, it said.
English (US) ·