Patna: A civil court in Aurangabad on Friday ordered the confiscation and subsequent auctioning of the district magistrate's official vehicle to pay compensation to a local resident in a land acquisition case.

A court headed by sub-judge Anil Kumar Mishra ordered the confiscation of a Scorpio bearing registration number BR26H 2222 and its auctioning.

Contacted, Aurangabad district magistrate Kanwal Tanuj said he had not received a copy of the court order.

"The vehicle in question doesn't belong to the DM. It has been hired from a private agency. How can the vehicle belonging to an agency be auctioned? We are looking into the matter," Tanuj said.

The sub-judge's order says the money raised through auction would be used to pay compensation to the family members of Mungeshwari Devi, a resident of Jasoyia Mishribigha village in Aurangabad district. Mungeshwari died in 2008.

After Mungeshwari's death, her husband Ramkesh Paswan moved court seeking compensation from the district administration. Taking serious note of the matter, the court passed an order on October 8, 2010, that compensation be paid to the complainant. On December 12, 2012, complainant Ramkesh also died.

Later, the couple's relative, Dineshwar Paswan, staked claim for compensation. However, the district authorities didn't pay heed to the repeated reminders of the court.

On October 8, 2015, the court informed the district magistrate about his failure to comply with its order. Subsequent reminders were sent to the office of the district magistrate but in vain.

On November 28, 2017, the court received a petition from the complainant's counsel seeking immediate auction of the official vehicle of the district magistrate to pay the compensation.

Though the court sent another reminder to the district magistrate, no compensation was paid to the widow. Finally on Friday, the court ordered the confiscation of the vehicle.

The court, in its order, said the vehicle had been taken into possession of the court with immediate effect and directed the district authorities neither to sell it nor to transfer its ownership to anybody. The authorities have also been directed not to bring about any changes in the existing shape of the car.

The court ordered the money collected from auction of the vehicle to be deposited in the district treasury so that the compensation could be paid to the complainant. The complainant, Dineshwar Paswan, as per the order of the court, is entitled to get Rs 1.53 lakh as compensation.

A senior official said Mungeshwari's family was paid only Rs 23,287 against a total of Rs 33,209 as compensation of his land acquired by the government in early 1990s. The family was paid Rs 10,000 less than the agreed amount.

Paswan's counsel Satish Kumar Snehi said the order of the court had been sent to the district magistrate's office.