Roshan Kumar
Ranchi
The Jharkhand High Court has granted relief to 12 non-tribal families involved in a land dispute in Ranchi’s Madhukam area, holding that its 2024 order directing land possession was obtained by suppressing material facts and is therefore legally void.
Justice Rajesh Shankar’s bench also imposed a penalty of Rs 12 lakh on petitioner Mahadev Oraon, directing him to pay Rs 1 lakh each to the 12 affected families within four weeks.
The dispute relates to 45 decimals of land in Madhukam. Mahadev Oraon had claimed ownership based on a 1996 SAR Court order under Section 71A of the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act. After failing to secure possession, he moved the High Court in 2024, which directed authorities to hand over the land after due verification.
During contempt proceedings, the 12 families informed the court that Mahadev Oraon had entered into 11 settlement agreements with them between 2019 and 2020, allowing them to stay on the land after receiving about Rs 1.08 crore through cheques. The court found that he concealed these agreements and the payments while filing both the writ and contempt petitions.
Rejecting Oraon’s claim that the agreements were signed under duress, the court said he should have challenged them legally if that were true. The bench also criticised the then Hehal Circle Officer for demolishing structures despite there being no such direction in the 2024 order.
