Eviction Cannot Be Ordered Without Due Process, Executive Authorities Cannot Adjudicate Land Title: Jharkhand High Court

In a recent judgment, the Jharkhand High Court has held that the question of land ownership cannot be unilaterally determined by the executive authorities and a person in possession cannot be summarily evicted without due process.A division bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Deepak Roshan stated that under Article 300A of the Constitution, nobody can be deprived of their property except by the authority of law.The division bench observed, “No provision of law is quoted in the order dated 6.8.2020 which empowers the Circle Officer, Fatehpur, to determine the title to the land in the occupation of the appellant or to evict the appellant. The doctrine of separation of powers precludes the Circle Officer, who is a member of the Executive branch of the Government, from exercising judicial powers. Thus, his order is without jurisdiction.”“The Circle Officer cannot unilaterally determine the title of the government to the subject land and only the civil court can do so,” the division bench further stated.The above ruling came in a Letters Patent Appeal preferred against the judgment of the Single Judge of the High Court dismissing the appellant's writ petition whereby the appellant had challenged three memos through which the respondents had asked the appellant to vacate the disputed property.As per the factual matrix of the case, the dispute arose when multiple eviction notices were issued by the Circle Officer in 2019 and 2020, directing the appellant to vacate land that had been granted to his grandfather in 1957 under the Bihar Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1954. The appellant had produced a donation certificate, mutation records from 1962-63, and rent receipts as evidence of lawful possession. Despite this, the Circle Officer ordered the eviction.The High Court, in its judgement found that the eviction orders were issued without any legal authority and that the Circle Officer had acted beyond his jurisdiction.The Court relied on the judgement in the case of Government of Andhra Pradesh Vs. Thummala Krishna Rao and Anr. (1982) 2 SCC 134, whereby the the Supreme Court had held that if there is a bonafide dispute regarding title of the government to any property, government cannot take a unilateral decision in its own favour that the property belongs to it, and on the basis of such a decision, summarily evict somebody who is in possession of the property.The court, while criticising the reliance on an undisclosed report by the Revenue Sub-Inspector, stated, “Material collected behind the appellant's back cannot be used to his prejudice.”The Court further observed that the Circle Officer did not have the authority to determine if the appellant's documents were fraudulent. The Court stated, “We fail to understand how the Circle Officer could determine whether a document is fake or not as he is not conferred the power of the civil court to decide the genuineness of document or whether it is a forgery.”The court noted that the appellant's possession of the land was long-standing, while ruling that, “as evidenced by the mutation order given by the revenue authorities in his grandfather's favour in 1962-63. So there is a Bonafide dispute of title. Therefore summary eviction of appellant could not have been done without following due process of law.”The Court thus, quashed the eviction orders and held, “the impugned proceedings ... are all set-aside and declared to be proceedings issued without jurisdiction and null and void; the respondents are directed to put back the appellant in possession of the property, if he has been dispossessed, within one week from today. Disciplinary action be initiated against the 2nd respondent by the 1st respondent for acting highhandedly without any jurisdiction for evicting the appellant.”Case Title: Ganesh Burman @ Ganesh Poddar vs The State of Jharkhand and OrsLL Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Jha) 13Click Here To Download Judgement

Eviction Cannot Be Ordered Without Due Process, Executive Authorities Cannot Adjudicate Land Title: Jharkhand High Court

Bhavya Singh

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