HC stays creation of 3 new Shergarh villages

Jodhpur, January 27, 2025.

The Jodhpur bench of Rajasthan High Court, has stayed the declaration of three new revenue villages created in Shergarh tehsil of Jodhpur district, terming their creation contrary to the circular issued by the state govt for the purpose. These three villages had been recommended for creation from the original revenue village Khirja Bhoja under Shergarh tehsil in Dec 2023 by Shergarh BJP MLA Babu Singh Rathore.

Hearing the petition, single bench of Justice Vineet Kumar Mathur issued a notice to the state govt, seeking a response in the matter, while listing the matter for next hearing on Feb 14, 2025.

The Rajasthan govt issued a notification on Jan 10, to create three new revenue villages named Prithviraj Singh Nagar, Ladani Nagar, and Hadmatsingh Nagar from Khirja Bhoja revenue village.

Residents of Khirja Bhoja filed a writ petition in the high court challenging this notification stating that the these villages were named after some local leaders and their ancestors and hence, were aimed at obliging supporters.

“Criteria such as minimum population, grazing land, Siwai Chak land, and the expansion of basic facilities are mandatory for creating new revenue villages. However, the state govt issued the notification in violation of these rules,” argued petitioners’ counsel Yashpal Khileree, adding that prescribed criteria under Section 16 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956, was not followed.

He added, a Gram Sabha meeting was convened without a complete quorum on Nov 9, 2024 in haste, and proposals for the creation of new revenue villages were sent in violation of the circular.

Hesaid the creation of new villages was carried out while ignoring all objections and mandatory provisions, which is against the law and thus, unconstitutional.

Agreeing with the petitioners’ arguments, the court stayed the effect and operation of the order of Jan 2025 pertaining to newly proposed villages and sought responses from the state govt and the Jodhpur district collector. The court, however, has given liberty to the state to give any other names to these villages in adherence to the circular.

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