GUWAHATI, India, March 18 -- Gauhati High Court issued the following order on March 17:

1. Heard Mr. R. Alom, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners. Ms. P. R. Mahanta, the learned counsel appears on behalf of the respondent No.1 and Mr. N. Goswami, the earned Government Advocate appears on behalf of the Respondent Nos.2 & 3.

2. Thirteen (13) writ petitioners have joined together to file the instant writ petition complaining about various notices issued by the Respondent No.3 which have been collectively enclosed to the writ petition as Anenxure-14.

3. The Petitioners herein claim that they are in possession of various small plots of land at village Paschim Boragaon in the District of Kamrup (M).

4. The possession of the Petitioners over these lands is through land sale agreement entered into with original pattadars and have been under control and care of the Petitioners for several years. It is therefore the case of the Petitioners that it is not a case that the Petitioners are encroachers but they are in settled possession upon permissions being granted by the original pattadars. Be that as it may, it is also an admitted fact as would be seen from the Paragraph No.5 of the writ petition that the Petitioners have applied for settlement of land under seeking the regularization of the long-standing possession over the lands situated at Paschim Boragaon.

5. Mr. R. Alom, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioners submitted that no decision have been taken in respect to all these applications by the Respondent Authorities. It is however pertinent to observe that filing of application seeking settlement prima facie appears that the Petitioners have admitted that these are Government lands. The learned counsel for the Petitioners further submitted that the Petitioners also have raised constructions over these lands and have been issued Holding Numbers by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation and the said documents have also been enclosed to the present writ petition.

6. The grievance of the Petitioners however is that while their applications seeking settlement are pending, the Respondent Authorities have issued notices under Section 18(3) of the Settlement Rules to the Petitioners on various dates. These notices as already stated above have been collectively enclosed as Annexure-14 to the writ petition.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=I1mmm2bl4r4EREhYK63KvxtoPWa1%2Flp6eX63lDB6fIp2Q0%2B51gxwQ51z%2B79CX39%2B&caseno=WP(C)/882/2026&cCode=1&cino=GAHC010029932026&state_code=6&appFlag=)

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