Patna High Court rules Meira Kumar entitled to land compensation

The Patna High Court has ruled that former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is entitled to compensation for a 0.56-acre patch of land in Patna’s Mainpura locality. The land was acquired by the Bihar government in 1976 for the construction of a drain.

Justice Khatim Reza set aside a 2023 order by a district collector that had cancelled the land’s revenue records (jamabandi). The court restored the records in the name of Kumar’s mother, Indrani Devi. The court noted that the land had been settled in 1941 and subsequently purchased by Indrani Devi in 1965, with Kumar’s name being mutated following her mother’s death via a registered will.

The ruling stated that the collector lacked jurisdiction to initiate proceedings under Section 4(h) of the Bihar Land Reforms Act because the state failed to produce notifications establishing the vesting of the estate in the government. The court emphasized that the petitioner has occupied the land for over 60 years.