what to do Land acquired by Govt. without notice to me

[deepakkhemka 1]

I have land in Burdwan, West Bengal which the Govt. has acquired by acquisition, without any notice to me. When I found out about the acquisition after a few years, I approached the department, and found the original letters and envelopes addressed to me lying in their files. I have collected the same recording the date of collection of the letters.

I then filed a RTI for examination of the Govt. records regarding acquisition, but the CPIO refused examination and information. He even refused to provide name and details of First Appeal Officer. I filed sec 18 with West Bengal Govt RTI dept. They are now processing applications of 2008. and say my application will be processed in due course?

What can I do?

[G.R.Vidyaranya 54]

Filing complaint u/s 18 will not get you any information. Please also file a 2nd appeal u/s 19(3). Also file a First Appeal u/s 19(1) to FAA, who could be the senior officer of the PIO (you have mentioned CPIO - is it by mistake or is the case in central govt. office?). Search the website of concerned Govt. office for PIO/FAA details. While you 2nd appeal will be pending, the FAA may or may not call for a hearing and pass some order which can then be used during 2nd appeal. Seek legal opinion if you can get a stay on acquisition process.

[jj99 136]

instead of going direction less my view is go for result oriented action

 

Find any rule / Circular or any offiicial paper where concerned dept has power to acquire land without land owners consent

 

File written complaint with concerned dept of your protest and stop further action if any

 

File RTI again with concerned dept to provide details of letters sent to land owners ( Sec 4(1)(a))

clear photo copy and certierfied photo copy of all records in your file for land acquisition

 

etc

[Prasad GLN 1,437]

Land acquisition by any govt., is subject to notifications, which require advertisement, conducting grama sabhas, collecting observations, meeting villagers by an official commitee, and payment of compensation before commencement of any project.

As you know RTI CAN ONLY SHOW THE WAY, but destination is different, and my sincere advice is first findout from rest of the villagers as to how many victims are there like you. Form as a commitee, first submit memorandum as a group to Land acquisition officer, hand over the case to an advocate and seek injunction order on such grounds as he deem fit.

Applicant need not take into accounts any official words, and file RTI application seek all certified copies of notifications and the procedure for acquiring land (it may even be available in state site), collect information as to whether laid down procedure was scrupulously followed, find out the violations and then commence for struggle for getting remedy.

[Sunil Ahya 696]

I think the problem referred to by the poster is that the PIO is unwilling to provide the requested information, moreover he is unwilling to provide the details of the First Appellate Authority (FAA) and that there is a pendency of five years before the West Bengal SIC, and so, if he approaches the Commission either u/s. 18 or 19 he will have to wait for an endlessly long period of five years, and as such, under the circumstances, he is unable to comprehend what to do ?

 

 

> The best way forward would be to complete the sequential procedure of filing a RTI application, followed by First Appeal u/s. 19(1) and further followed by Second Appeal u/s. 19(3), that is to say, why not take the chance of first appeal and hopefully try and see if you can get the required information!

Moreover, it would be better if you complete the above sequence, rather than directly approaching the Commission, u/s. 18(1), not only because you will get an additional opportunity of obtaining the required information during the course of first appeal proceedings, but also you would have exhausted all the remedies available under the RTI Act before approaching the Information Commission, else there is a possibility of Commission remanding the RTI application back to FAA.

 

 

> If the PIO has not provided you with the details of the FAA, then you can refer to the blog on the following link, and file your first appeal accordingly:

 

How to Address (File) a First Appeal, when a PIO has not provided the details of the FAA ?

[jj99 136]

I appreciate members reply/ies

here in this matter time factor is very crucial if the poster follows FA-SIC route , the matter will dead for 1 or 2 years and poster in the hope that he will get favorable order ( fingers crossed )

 

in my view time is factor poster should not loose

so the ideal thing will get whatever replies in RTI application collect as many as poster can

then go the higher ups or court for redressal

this is more meaning ful than waiting till SIC order ( may be for 2 years ) that to possibility of being unsatisfied

 

also it should be noted that once RTI reply is in hands of the poster with cleverly written queries,( take help from attached file post#3 ) poster can very well convince that I am satisfied with rti reply hence NO FA-SIC and I take this as final ( no role of either pio/fa/sic )

[Prasad GLN 1,437]

Mr.JJ99,

Is not the advice No. 4 in tune with your above reply ?

[jj99 136]

Mr.JJ99,

Is not the advice No. 4 in tune with your above reply ?

 

I have already appreciated reply/ies

I thought solution from poster point of view and suggested the ideal solution as per my thinking

time factor - delay in FA/SIC is not mentioned