B.N. Srikrishna, J. - (1.) The respondent filed a writ petition before the High Court of judicature of Allahabad seeking a writ of Mandamus to the appellant-State of Uttar Pradesh and its officers to determine the compensation in respect of his land bearing plot No. 3 Ka (0.29 acres), 4 (0.37 acres) and 3 kha (1.01 acres) in village Chakiya Bhagwanpur, Tehsil Lalganj, District Azamgarh, which, according to the respondent, had been taken away forcibly without following any process of law. It was the specific case of the respondent that he had been dispossessed from his land and the land had been taken by appellants without payment of any compensation and further that the appellants had put up building and structures on the land sometime in 1955 and that despite repeated appeals made by him nobody was prepared to pay compensation. He enclosed along with the writ petition a letter no.73/S.T.D.M-91 dated 9/10-4-91 written by the Collector, Azamgarh to the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Azamgarh to the following effect :"Please refer to the application of Shri Manohar s/o Raghunath, Mauja Kharga Bhagwanpur, Block Lalganj (enclosed). He has stated that the compensation for the land acquired for development Block, Lalganj has not yet been paid even though the construction of the Development Block has been done in the year 1955. After looking into matter action be taken to make payment of the compensation and I may be informed about the position."
(2.) This was replied to by the Special Land Acquisition Officer by his letter dated 5-8-91 in which he says thus: "Please refer to this office letter No.1159/Aa.S.L.A.D.(J.V.) dated 23-3-1991; and letter No.28(2) eight S.L.A. O.(J.V.) dated 16-4-91 on the above subject under which Shri Manohar Ram r/o Chakia Bhagwanpur Pargana Devgaon Tehsil - Lalganj, Special Power of Attorney Shrilal s/o Bhoval made a complaint to the collection for non-payment of the compensation of the land acquired for construction of Development Block, Lalganj. The B.D.O. Lalganj has informed that the Development Block, Lalganj was established on 16-1-1955 at 1.533 acres of land. Enclosing an attested copy of the Khatauni of 1377 F with his Application dated 20-6-91 Shri Manohar has given an application that his land No. 3ka, 3kaa, 4ka has not been acquired but during consolidation operation the Block Office being already in existence there, his name was deleted by the Department of consolidation. The copy of the intkhab Khatauni was verified from the papers preserved by the Record Room and the entries of the Khatauni were found to be correct. Even in the office there is no reference of any proposal for land acquisition. Thus from the records and circumstantial evidence it is evident that the land of Development Block, Lalganj has not been acquired and on the basis of the local position during consolidation operation the Asstt. Consolidation Officer stated the name of the office of Development Block in Records. Under these circumstances, it is requested that the compensation of the land of development block office Lalganj may be paid by mutual settlement. Under the above circumstances, this office has no concern with this case."
(3.) The grievance of the respondent before the High Court was that his name was high-handedly deleted from the revenue record and the revenue record thereafter showed the name of the appellants. He was dispossessed from the land and no compensation was paid, nor were any steps taken in law for acquiring the land. The respondent demanded an amount of Rs.10 lakhs as compensation with interest from the date of dispossession.;