Research › Search › Judgment

Patna High Court · body

2004 DIGILAW 596 (PAT)

Raj Nandan Bhagat v. Ram Sagar Singh

2004-06-25

R.N.PRASAD, RAVI S.DHAVAN

body2004
Judgment R.N.Prasad, J. 1. The appeal has been filed against the order dated 19.2.2003 passed in CWJC No. 12586 of 2002 directing that the District Magistrate, Vaishali shall require the Block Development Officer-cum-Secretary, Panchayat Samiti to convene a meeting on receipt of copy of the order and if he apprehends law and order problem in the meeting then he can request for police assistance. 2. The relevant facts of the case are that village Bajitpur Bhadwas is basically a scheduled castes dominated village and in order to uplift/improve the condition/standard of the residents of the village an Anganwari Kendra was established in the village. There was no building and as such Anganwari Kendra was running under the open sky. 3. Under the Integrated Child Development Scheme-ll sponsored by the Central Government 21 units of Anganwari Kendra Bhawan were to be constructed in the Mahua Block of Vaishali district. The relevant order/circular/guideline was issued vide memo no. 561 dated 11.9.1996. Under the order/instruction of the Government, Anganwari building was to be constructed under the supervision of the Beneficiary Committee constituted by the concerned Gram Sabha. At the relevant time the power of the Mukhiya of the Gram Panchayat was seized and it was vested in the Block Development Officer of the district who worked as an Executive Officer of the Gram Panchayat as no election was held for more than a decade. Since the Anganwari Centre was established in the village Bajitpur Bhadwas but it had no building, a Gram Sabha was convened on 7.4.1998 in the village. In the said Gram Sabha a Beneficiary Committee of the Village was constituted and the appellant was elected Secretary of the said Beneficiary Committee. Since there was no suitable land for construction of the building of the Anganwari Centre, Deo Narayan Paswan, father of the appellant, agreed to donate 3 decimals of Bhit land appertaining to Plot no. 30, Khata no. 24. Pursuant to the decision of the Gram Sabha he executed a registered deed for construction of the building of the Anganwari Centre in favour of the Hon ble the Governor of Bihar on 6.5.1998. The Block Development Officer thereafter issued work order in favour of the appellant for construction of the Anganwari building and also granted Rs. 7,000/- as an advance for initiating the construction work. The cost of construction of the Anganwari building was fixed at Rs. The Block Development Officer thereafter issued work order in favour of the appellant for construction of the Anganwari building and also granted Rs. 7,000/- as an advance for initiating the construction work. The cost of construction of the Anganwari building was fixed at Rs. 1,48,000/- and it was to be completed by 21.10.1998. 4. The appellant after receipt of the work order started construction work and by 10.5.1998 and construction was made upto the plinth level on investment of Rs. 17,901/-. While construction was going on some interested persons filed representation for change of the site for construction of the Anganwari building. On the direction of the District Magistrate, the Block Development Officer stopped the construction work. Respondent No.1, Ram Sagar Singh filed a writ petition bearing C.W.J.C. No. 5575 of 1998 as Public Interest Litigation for change of the site of construction of the Anganwari building. The said writ petition was dismissed on 23.4.2002 with observation that issue involved was whether the Anganwari building was being constructed on the private land at village Bajitpur Bhadwas and if the petitioner is so serious may raise such issue before the local Gram Panchayat. However, no order to restart the work was issued and on the application filed by the Mukhiya of the Gram Panchayat the District Magistrate stayed the construction work vide order dated 5.3.2002 as contained in the application dated 25.2.2002, annexure-14. The appellant filed CWJC No. 8598 of 2002 for quashing the order dated 5.3.2002, Annexure-14 passed by the District Magistrate. A Bench of this Court after hearing the parties and taking into consideration the counter affidavit filed by the respondents found that the site for construction of the Anganwari building was approved in the Gram Sabha of the village and in the counter affidavit the claim of the petitioner of the writ petition with respect to the selection of the site for construction of the building at the selected site was not controverted rather the same has been accepted. The Court held that after coming into force of the Panchayat Raj Act and the election being conducted, there has been dissolution of the power at the village level. The District Magistrate cannot become authority to stay or supersede any action of the Gram Panchayat and accordingly by order dated 11.9.2002 quashed the order of stay passed by the District Magistrate. The District Magistrate cannot become authority to stay or supersede any action of the Gram Panchayat and accordingly by order dated 11.9.2002 quashed the order of stay passed by the District Magistrate. Thereafter one Manoj Singh filed a review petition bearing no. 158/2002. The said review petition was dismissed on 14.1.2003. 5. After the disposal of CWJC No. 8598/2002 and after enquiry on the direction of the District Magistrate, Vaishali the Child Development Project Officer, Mahua vide letter dated 5.10.2002 directed the appellant to re-start the work and complete the construction work of the Anganwari building immediately. The appellant thereafter re-started the construction work and completed the construction work of Anganwari building at village Bajitpur Bhadwas on 22.11.2002. The District Welfare Officer, Vaishali under the order of the District Magistrate, Vaishali made spot enquiry and vide his report dated 20.1.2003 the District Welfare Officer, Vaishali found that construction of Anganwari building has already been completed. It appears that on 13.11.2002 the respondent 1st. set filed CWJC No. 12586 of 2002 for restraining the respondents from construction of the Anganwari building, for shifting the place of construction of Anganwari building and for convening a general meeting of the Gram Sabha. However, in spite of the objection by the appellant with regard to maintainability of the writ petition, a Bench of this Court disposed of the writ petition on 19.2.2003 directing to convene the meeting and in case of apprehension of law and order to request for police assistance. The appellant has challenged the said order in this appeal. 6. On consideration of the submission of the parties and materials available on the record, it is evident that matter relates to construction of the Anganwari building at village Bajitpur Bhadwas where the Anganwari Kendra was established but it was running under the open sky in absence of any building. Under the Integrated Child Development Scheme-ll and the order/guideline of the Government, the site for construction of the Anganwari building has to be selected in Gram Sabha and construction has to be made by the Beneficiary Committee constituted in the Gram Sabha and as such a Gram Sabha was convened in the village and a Beneficiary Committee was constituted. Since there was no suitable land available in the village for construction of Anganwari building, one Deo Narayan Paswan donated 3 decimals of Bhit land appertaining to plot no. 30 khata no. Since there was no suitable land available in the village for construction of Anganwari building, one Deo Narayan Paswan donated 3 decimals of Bhit land appertaining to plot no. 30 khata no. 24 and executed a registered deed in favour of the Hon ble the Governor of Bihar for the said purpose. After execution of the deed as stated above, the work order was issued in the year 1998 and the appellant who was Secretary of the Beneficiary Committee, was entrusted with the construction work of the Anganwari building. The appellant started construction and completed upto plinth level, however, on objection raised by some persons having vested interest, the construction work was stopped by the order of the District Magistrate. The respondent no. 1 filed a public interest litigation bearing CWJC No. 5575/1998 for change of the site of construction of the building. The issue was raised that construction of the building was being made on private land. However, the said writ petition was dismissed on 23.4.2002 with observation that the petitioner, if so serious, may raise such issue before the Panchayat. In spite of the dismissal of the writ petition the District Magistrate on 5.3.2002 stayed the construction work and as such, the appellant filed CWJC No. 8598/2002 against the aforesaid order of stay which was allowed on 11.9.2002 holding that the District Magistrate has no authority to interfere in the matter after coming into force of the Panchayat Raj Act and the election having been conducted thereunder. It was also stated in the aforesaid order that the claim of selection of the site/construction on the selected site in Gram Sabha has not been controverted in the counter affidavit rather the same has been accepted by the respondents. The review petition filed by one Manoj was also dismissed. However, it is evident that Anganwari building was not being constructed on private land rather it was being constructed on a land which was donated and a registered deed was executed in favour of the Governor of Bihar. However, after disposal of the aforesaid writ petition the petitioner was directed to re-start the work and complete the same immediately. Pursuant to the said order the construction work of the building was completed on 22.11.2002. On inspection also by the District Welfare Officer, Vaishali it was found that Anganwari building has already been constructed vide report dated 20.1.2003. 7. However, after disposal of the aforesaid writ petition the petitioner was directed to re-start the work and complete the same immediately. Pursuant to the said order the construction work of the building was completed on 22.11.2002. On inspection also by the District Welfare Officer, Vaishali it was found that Anganwari building has already been constructed vide report dated 20.1.2003. 7. It is thus obvious that construction work was started in the year 1998, however, in spite of objections and several rounds of litigations the construction of the building was completed. But it is unfortunate that though the District Magistrate/ authority has no jurisdiction to interfere in the matter of construction of the building when the site was selected in the Gram Sabha and construction was entrusted to the Secretary of the Beneficiary Committee but because of such interference and stay the construction work remained pending for several years. However, it was completed after disposal of CWJC No. 8598/2002 on 11.9.2002. Thus on consideration and in the situation that Anganwari building has already been constructed, this appeal is allowed and the order impugned is hereby set aside. Ravi S.Dhavan, J. 8 I agree.