How Are Individuals Being Declared 'Bhu Mafia' Sans Any Law Authorizing Such Action? Allahabad HC Asks UP Govt

A bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh passed this order as it prima facie opined that the declaration of a person as a land grabber is likely to infringe on important rights of individuals.

“To what extent such action is legally permissible would thus require consideration of this Court,” the bench added as it stayed the declaration of the petitioner as Bhu Mafia until further orders of the Court.

Essentially, the petitioner (Banvari Lal) had moved the HC, aggrieved by the respondents' declaration of him as Bhu Mafia. A prayer was made to delete the petitioner's name from such lists of land grabbers.

It was his case that the only allegation against him was of encroachment of school land, and that too had been found to have no substance; therefore, proceedings initiated under Section 133 CrPC were dropped by the concerned authority.

It was submitted that the office of District Magistrate, Agra had also written to the authorities to remove the name of the petitioner from the list of land grabbers, yet the State authorities have not proceeded to expunge the name of the petitioner from the list of Bhu Mafia.

His counsel argued that declaring a person as Bhu Mafia adversely impacts the petitioner's reputation, which is an integral part of his right to life with dignity.

It was submitted that the action of the State authorities in declaring a person as a land grabber and thereby ridiculing his prestige and dignity amongst the public at large is wholly unconstitutional.

It is also contended that the Government Order relied upon for such purposes merely talks of creating a task force to remove illegal encroachments by land grabbers and that such an Order cannot form any basis to declare a person a land grabber without there being any law authorizing such action.

Noting that, although the Government Order dated May 1, 2017, constituting the Anti-Bhu Mafia Task Force was not challenged in the petition, the Division Bench nevertheless opined that the legal permissibility of declaring a person as a 'Bhu Mafia' requires consideration by this Court.

Consequently, the Court directed the concerned Secretary of the State to justify the State's position in light of the observations made by the HC by filing an affidavit within three weeks.

The matter is now scheduled for a hearing on March 6.