Calcutta HC Orders Govt To Hand Over Acquired Border Land To BSF On Unfenced Indo-Bangladesh Border, Flags Security Concerns
PIL was filed by former Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Subrata Saha
The Calcutta High Court has directed the West Bengal government to hand over all already-acquired land meant for fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) to the Border Security Force (BSF) by 31-03-2026, stressing that delays cannot be justified when national security is involved.
Hearing a PIL filed by former Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Subrata Saha, the Court noted data showing rising cross-border infiltration, narcotics seizures, fake currency, cattle smuggling and other illegal activities along the border stretch in West Bengal, which shares the longest segment of the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB). It was argued that fencing gaps were directly linked to security vulnerabilities.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, thus, observed, “…in view of admitted position of acquisition/purchase of lands in first category and acceptance of compensation for these pieces of land, we deem it proper to direct the State Government to hand over the aforesaid lands as per the fifth chart to the B.S.F. before 31st March, 2026. At the cost of repetition, in our opinion, the State Government needs to expedite the process of handing over of already acquired land for which compensation is already received in these 9 districts to the B.S.F. expeditiously but not beyond 31st March, 2026”.
Advocate Ajoy Krishna Chatterjee appeared for the petitioner and Kishore Dutta, A.G., Senior Advocate Sirsanya Bandopadhyay, Ashok Kumar Chakraborty, A.S.G.I., Kumar and Senior Advocate Jyoti Tewari appeared for the respondents.
It was averred in the petition that IBB comprises of 4096.70 Kms. in total length. Further that the State of West Bengal shares the longest stretch of 2216.70 Km out of the entire border. The border passes through following district of West Bengal: 1) North 24 Parganas, 2) Nadia, 3) Murshidabad, 4) Malda, 5) Dakshin Dinajpur, 6) Uttar Dinajpur, 7) Darjeeling, 8) Jalpaiguri and 9) Cooch Behar.
The Bench categorised the pending land issues into three groups and took a firm view on the first: land already acquired/purchased and for which compensation has been received from the Centre, but which has not yet been handed over to BSF. It held that procedural reasons, including Special Intensive Revision (SIR) “cannot be an impediment” in such cases and ordered the State to complete handover of these parcels across nine border districts within the fixed deadline.
For the second category, land where acquisition under Land Acquisition Act, 1894 or direct purchase proceedings have begun but are pending at various stages, the Court directed the State to file an Action Taken Report and to expedite the process, also aiming for completion by 31-03-2026.
On the third category, involving fresh acquisitions, the Court said it would examine the applicability of the urgency provisions under Sections 40 and 41 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (Act of 2013) on the next date.
Rejecting a “hyper-technical” objection against granting interim relief, the Court observed that fencing of the border is undisputedly in national interest and partially allowed the interim prayer, listing the matter for further hearing in April 2026.
Cause Title: Lt. Gen. Dr. Subrata Saha v. The Union of India & Ors. W.P.A. (P) 450 of 2025
Petitioner: Ajoy Krishna Chatterjee, Rohit Banerjee, Kanchan Jaju, S. Das, Advocates.
Respondent: Kishore Dutta, Ld. A.G., Sirsanya Bandopadhyay, Sr. Standing Counsel, Akash Dutta, For the State; Ashok Kumar Chakraborty, Ld. A.S.G.I., Kumar Jyoti Tewari, Sr. Adv., Amrita Pandey, Ghanashyam Pandey, Subrata Goswami, Advocates.