Bombay High Court Pulls Up District Officials For Destroying Farmers' Crops For Mahashivratri Celebrations

A division bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and MN Jadhav also recorded a statement made by the Collector of Kolhapur as an undertaking to the court where the Collector had stated that they will confine the festivities of Mahashivratri only to the public road and not use any part of the field/land of the petitioners.

The court records photographs produced by petitioners Shashikala Surendra Ambade and others where one of the pictures showed her field with soyabean crop up to a few inches from the ground, while the other showed the crop being cleared using a JCB. Ambade's field is right next to a public road which the authorities planned to occupy for a Yatra for the Mahashivratri festival. Ambade's plea sought reliefs against the Kolhapur district authorities and Kurundwad Municipal Council (KMC) against the action of destroying the soyabean crop in their field.

"The above two photographs (Photograph Nos.2 & 3) show that the Respondents are with the help of a JCB destroying the soyabean crop in the Petitioners field", the Court observed.

Kolhapur District Collector Rahul Rekhawar and Chief Officer of KMC Nikhil Jadhav were present virtually during the hearing and tried to defend their action by saying that a member of the petitioners' family had consented to the said action during a meeting. However, the petitioners denied the same.

The court then sought production of minutes of the said meeting and the signatures obtained of those present at the meeting. It was, however, informed that the respondent authorities did not have such minutes or signatures.

The authorities then made a submission in an attempt to defend the action which further irked the court. It was submitted that an entry in the petitioner's land records (7/12 extract) endorsed that during the Mahashivratri festival, the authorities would take possession of the petitioners' land for a period of 15 days for the festivities.

"We do not understand under which provision of law, such an endorsement is made/allowed and how the plot of the petitioners can be taken away for a period of 15 days especially when the petitioners are growing soyabean crop on the said field. Even if this practice has been adopted in the past, the same cannot be relied upon as a precedent and the Court is required to stop such practice once it is opposed by the petitioners," the court order notes.

Following this, the Collector, Kolhapur made statement to the court that he will ensure that the field of the petitioners is not used for the Mahashivratri festivities and the said festivities will be confined and held only on the public road. The court, took the statement on the record, passed the injunction order and adjourned the case for March 10 and directed the respondents to remain present in the court align with a reply affidavit.

Case Title: Shashikala Surendra Ambade & Ors. Versus The State of Maharashtra & Ors.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Bom) 56