South 24 Parganas district was acquired without his knowledge, while a construction was built on it and no compensation was awarded to the land owners for being dispossessed of their assets.
Shocking negligence on the part of the West Bengal state government recently came to light, when it emerged that land belonging to a person in the state's South 24 Parganas district was acquired without his knowledge, while a construction was built on it and no compensation was awarded to the land owners for being dispossessed of their assets.
The incident came to light when a case was decided recently by the Supreme Court. One Manash Mohan Chatterjee claimed that a little over two bighas of land, possessed by his father Sumohan Chatterjee, were taken over by the state without any notice of acquisition served on him or compensation paid.
Chatterjee claimed he first learnt of this illegality in 1999, and has been waging a legal batle ever since. He secured an order from an apex court bench of justices NV Ramana and Mohan M Shantanagouder directing the state to pass an award of acquisition in his favour within four weeks. The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), which is currently in possession of the land, has also been directed by the court to pay suitable compensation.
Chatterjee said his father purchased the land in 1942. Before his death in 1983, regular rent payments on land were deposited with the land revenue office. But as per state records, the last rent was paid in 1972.
Though Chatterjee's father clearly had possession of the land, the state still went ahead with acquisition proceedings under the West Bengal Land (Requisition and Acquisition) Act, 1948, claiming Chatterjee's father also had to register his name in the record-of-rights.
But the state's arguments did not find favour with either the high court or the Supreme Court. In one voice, the courts held the acquisition to be a wrong exercise of power.
MURKY MYSTERY
Land owned by one Sumohan Chatterjee was taken over by the State, which also built structures on it without intimating the owner or paying him the requisite compensation.
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