B. P. Dharmadhikari, J. - (1.)By this Writ Petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner challenges the order passed by the respondent No. 2 Hon'ble Minister dated 2-9-1994, whereby the Hon'ble minister, has found that the land in dispute deserves to be allotted to the respondent No. 5, and has directed regularization of his encroachment by putting up appropriate proposal in that respect. The petitioner has further claimed a direction to the Government, Commissioner and Collector to hand over the possession of the plot Nos. 211 and 212 to him.
(2.)The facts in brief are that - the petitioner claims that he was allotted plot no. 212, ad measuring 25 x 11ft, total 275 sq. ft. by Collector on 28-6-1972 for temporary period of three months on lease and it was in petitioners' possession as encroacher. He further mentions that on 26-4-1978 he requested the Collector for allotment of that land and he also applied for 895 sq. ft. of land from adjacent plot no. 211. The proceedings were registered and reports were called from the local authorities like Nagpur Improvement Trust, Nagpur Municipal Corporation town Planning and after receipt of the reports in favour of the petitioner, the collector, Nagpur submitted his report to the Government and the Government sanctioned it by its letter dated 8-3-1984, insofar as the land ad measuring 275 sq. ft. from plot No. 212 is concerned. He further mentions that 895 sq. ft. of land from plot No. 211 came to be allotted to him by Government by letter dated 16- 4-1988. The Collector as per the Government directives executed in his favour lease on 8-8-1988 on certain conditions in relation to occupancy under section 34 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code. An agreement also came to be registered before the Sub Registrar on 14-8-1988.
(3.)It is the case of the petitioner that he had constructed a temporary structure i. e. hut of wooden patties/planks on the plot No. 212, which was initially allotted to him for a period of three months, and after expiry of the period of three months, the Collector directed the petitioner to remove this structure and hence the petitioner demolished the structure and sold the same to the present respondent No. 5 on 10-11-1978, for consideration of Rs. 700/ -. It is the case, that the respondent No. 5 did not carry away the material, but took forcible possession of the plot and started residing in it in a temporary shed on plot No. 212. He further states that the Collector, called upon the petitioner to pay to the Government the cost of the plot and accordingly he deposited the amount of Rs. 6445/- on 30-10-1990 and Rs. 76,710/- on 24-10-1991as price of the land. He states that the respondent No. 5 in the meanwhile applied to the nazul Officer for regularization of his encroachment on plot No. 212, and the said officer as also the Collector several times informed the respondent No. 5 that the land is already allotted to the petitioner. The said respondent No. 5 filed Writ petition bearing no. 2754/1991, before this Court without joining the present petitioner as party. The petitioner therefore, applied for intervention in it and on 22-6-1992, the petition was disposed of by observing that there was no reason to interfere with the orders passed by the Government and Collector, granting land in favour of the petitioner. However, the State Government and Collector were directed to take decision on the application of the respondent No. 5 herein, within a period of 6 months by the High Court.