Under the banner of Uttar Pradesh Mritak Sangh, these people have been agitating for several years in a bid to get back their land. They have sat in dharnas before the Vidhan Sabha many a times to draw the state Government's attention and sent letters to ministers and officials but to no avail.

On June 7, the "dead" belonging to Azamgarh, Mau and other districts had staged a dharna before the Vidhan Sabha. The court on Friday directed the Azamgarh administration to make announcements twicea week for six weeks in the local Hindi dailies and on the radio that any person deprived of his or her agricultural land by being declared dead in the revenue records should bring this in the knowledge of the gram pradhans.

The information so gathered is to be submitted before the CJM at the end of every week till September 13 and reach the registrar of the court who will place it before the court on September 20.

Sore over the State Government's indifferent attitude, the Mritak Sangh even decided to field a "dead" candidate from the city against PM Atal Behari Vajpayee in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. President of the Sangh Lal Bihari said the candidate would be named soon. Speaking to The Indian Express, Lal Bihari said if the State Government did not do something about the injustice meted out to them, the Sangh members would sit in dharna before the Vidhan Sabha again next month.

Their demands also include stern action against revenue officials and protection from the culprits afterthey are restored their land, Lal Bihari said.

So far only four "dead" - persons, Bhagwan Prasad Mishra and Maha Prasad Mishra of Mau district and Jhulari Devi and Paltan Yadav of Azamgarh district - have been declared alive by the State Government and their land restored to them, he said.

Maha Prasad, who was working with the Traffic Police in Lucknow, retired in 1985. But in the revenue and court records he was declared as having died in 1979. His elder brother Bhagwan Prasad also met the same fate. Some anti-social elements of his village usurped his land and other property. A nephew of Jhulari Devi deprived of her agricultural land in 1974. She got back her property only recently.