GUWAHATI, India, March 18 -- Gauhati High Court issued the following order on March 16:

1. Heard Mr. K. K. Mahanta, the learned Senior counsel assisted by Mr. M. Ali, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioners and Mr. B. J. Talukdar, the learned Senior Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the Respondent Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. I have also heard Mrs. P. R. Mahanta, the learned Standing counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondent No.1.

2. Two hundred sixteen (216) writ petitioners have joined together to file the instant writ petition complaining about various notices issued by the Respondent No.6 which have been collectively enclosed to the writ petition as Anenxure-8 (series).

3. The Petitioners herein claim that they are in possession of various small plots of land at village Doloni Beel, Boitamari Revenue Circle, in the District of Bongaigaon.

4. The case of the Petitioners herein is that they owned lands which were eroded by the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries. Thereafter, being poor cultivators, they occupied lands at Doloni Beel under Boitamari Revenue Circle in the District of Bongaigaon about 50 years ago and constructed dwelling houses thereon. The said lands are covered by various dag numbers, which have been duly mentioned in Paragraph No.3 of the writ petition. It is, therefore, the case of the Petitioners that they are not encroachers but are in settled possession of the lands.

5. It is also stated at Paragraph No.3 of the writ petition, that a perusal of the 1971 voter list of Village Doloni Beel shows that the Petitioners are descendants of persons who had been occupying land in the said village since 1971 as landless and river-eroded persons. After occupying the lands, they submitted several representations before the District Commissioner, Bongaigaon, seeking allotment of the occupied land in their names in view of their respective possession; however, no action has been taken till date.

6. Mr. K. K. Mahanta, the learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioners submitted that no decision has been taken in respect to all those 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.

7. The grievance of the Petitioners however is that while their applications seeking settlement are pending, the Respondent Authorities have issued notices on 08.01.2026 under Section 18(3) of the Settlement Rules to the Petitioners. These notices as already stated above have been collectively enclosed as Annexure-8 (series) to the writ petition.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=I1mmm2bl4r4EREhYK63Kv4zWPiO3ZqiIVbnpr5i79kGZ1Xp3uCUgK%2FeZnYFdMH0g&caseno=WP(C)/582/2026&cCode=1&cino=GAHC010019972026&state_code=6&appFlag=)

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