Gauhati High Court orders survey, acquisition and compensation for Assam Rifles’ occupation of private land in Tuensang since 1957
DIMAPUR — A nearly seven-decade-old land dispute involving the Assam Rifles and 84 landowners in Tuensang has come under judicial scrutiny, with the Kohima Bench of Gauhati High Court directing the authorities to ascertain the exact area under occupation, initiate proper acquisition proceedings and pay compensation at current market rates.
The court also directed that the landowners be paid legally due rent, with arrears dating back to 1957, until compensation is ascertained and paid.
The directions came in a judgement delivered on Monday in a writ petition filed by 84 residents of C-Khel, Tuensang village, who claimed that 289 acres of their private land had been occupied by the Assam Rifles since 1957 for establishment of its Battalion Key Location Plan without lawful acquisition or payment of compensation or rent.
Justice Robin Phukan disposed of the petition with a series of directions to the state authorities, including the Deputy Commissioner of Tuensang, to conduct a fresh survey of the land in the presence of all stakeholders and ascertain its exact extent using modern technology.
The court further directed the authorities, after determining the area under occupation, to initiate the process for regularisation of the land by following proper acquisition procedure and to execute a fresh lease, as the case may be, on payment of premium equivalent to land compensation at the current market price.
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The judgement noted that the basic facts regarding the occupation were not in dispute. It recorded that the Assam Rifles had acknowledged occupation of 242.280 acres at C-Khel, while the state authorities referred to 239.5 acres and the petitioners claimed 289 acres.
The court observed that the discrepancy required the actual area under occupation to be established through a survey.
Dispute over INR 90,000
The court also directed the deputy commissioner to ascertain whether INR 90,000, which the Assam Rifles maintained had been paid by the erstwhile NEFA Administration to the Deputy Commissioner of Tuensang, was ever disbursed to the landowners.
The Assam Rifles had relied on records showing that the amount was paid in 1962 as the cost of the land and acknowledged by the deputy commissioner. The petitioners, however, denied receiving the amount.
The court directed that if the amount was not disbursed to the petitioners, it should be paid along with the compensation. If it had already been paid, the amount should be adjusted against the total compensation payable.
The court also directed that rent legally due to the petitioners, along with arrears, be paid from the year of occupation—1957—until the compensation is determined and paid.
Conflicting claims over land
According to the judgement, the petitioners submitted that 289 acres of private land had been occupied by the Assam Rifles without due process and that repeated representations to the authorities had failed to resolve the matter.
The Assam Rifles, however, maintained that it occupied 242.280 acres and that the then NEFA Administration had paid INR 90,000 towards the cost of the land. It also stated that subsequent surveys had been conducted and that it had pursued formalisation and mutation of the land through correspondence with the state authorities.
The state government, meanwhile, told the court that records showed 239.5 acres under Assam Rifles occupation and that there was no record establishing that the land had been lawfully acquired.
The state also submitted that the land had initially been leased for 50 years from 1957, subject to renewal, but that continued occupation without renewal was impermissible under Nagaland’s landholding system.
The court, after considering the pleadings and submissions, observed that the occupied land had not been acquired through the applicable legal process and that neither compensation nor rent had been paid to the petitioners.
The entire exercise, including the survey and subsequent process, has been directed to be completed within three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of the judgement.
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