Noting that a local court and administration “acted in a mala fide manner and in a colourable exercise of power”, the Allahabad High Court on Monday ordered the district authorities in Siddharthnagar to restore possession of house within 48 hours to a woman who along with her three children was evicted from the property last year.
The order was issued by the division bench of Justices Manoj Kumar Gupta and Arun Kumar while hearing the woman’s petition.
The court of Civil Judge (Junior Division) in Sidharth Nagar had in February last year given an ex-parte injunction on a petition of Sandeep Gupta, a district court employee, for eviction of the woman, Soni, and other occupants of the house.
The bench also recommended action against the trial court judge, stating, “Let a copy of this order be placed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for consideration and for passing appropriate orders, if so deemed fit, for initiating disciplinary inquiry against the Civil Judge (Junior Division) who has passed the order dated 05.02.2025.”
On initiating action against the court employee, the high court said, “So far as respondent No. 8, an employee of District Judgeship Siddharthnagar is concerned, the matter be placed before the competent authority for appropriate action in accordance with law.”
Sandeep Gupta has also been ordered to pay Rs 1 lakh to the woman as “compensation” within a week.
“The tearing hurry in which the matter has proceeded raises serious doubt about the bona fides of orders passed by the trial court and the action taken by the administrative authorities. The circumstances clearly warrant an enquiry on the administrative side,” the bench said, adding, “We find that both the court as well as administrative authorities have acted in a totally mala fide manner and in colourable exercise of power in dispossessing the petitioner.”
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The HC order further read, “The petitioner shall be entitled to costs quantified at Rs.1,00,000/-, which shall be paid by respondent No. 8 (Gupta) by way of compensation for illegal dispossession of the petitioner and for the mental trauma suffered by the petitioner and her three minor children. The aforesaid amount shall be paid by respondent No. 8 to the petitioner within a period of one week from the date of this order, failing which respondent No. 2 (district authority) shall forthwith issue a recovery certificate for recovery of the said amount as arrears of land revenue and shall ensure recovery thereof from respondent No. 8 and payment to the petitioner positively within a further period of one month.”
The petitioner had approached the high court in August last year seeking back possession of the house from Sandeep Gupta. She alleged that Gupta got a portion of the house transferred in his name through a sale deed executed with the help of her husband Shyamji and his brother and got her and her three children aged 8, 4 and 3 years forcibly evicted with the help of police and revenue officials on July 18 last year by showing local court orders.
The woman contended that Gupta procured the sale deed for a specific portion of the house, knowing no division of the property had taken place among the co- sharers.
The petitioner said after her father-in-law’s death, the house was recorded in revenue documents in the name of her husband Shyamji, his brothers Premji, Ramji and Lalji and their mother Shivdhari Devi. The woman said she ran a beauty parlour from a shop on the ground floor of the house and it was her only source of income. Sandeep Gupta succeeded in obtaining a sale deed in his favour for a portion of the undivided house through her husband Shyamji and his younger brother Premji who are alcoholic, she alleged.
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