CHAUDHARI VIRASANGBHAI DALABHAI Vs. CHAUDHARI RANCHHODBHAI RAGHJIBHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are the owners of land admeasuring 2 acres and 10 gunthas forming part of Survey No. 671 of village Charada, Taluka Vijapur, District Mehsana. The said land was mortgaged to the predecessor-in-title of present respondents for an amount of Rs. 250/- on May 18, 1939, by a mortgage deed. According to the petitioners, the said mortgage was redeemed in 1980 and following that redemption, the respondents handed over the possession of the land to the petitioners. Since then, the petitioners are cultivating the land.

(2.) According to the petitioners, they also had another piece of land bearing Survey No. 144, which was also mortgaged to the respondents. In 1981, the petitioners requested for redemption of the mortgage of that land, to which the respondents declined, and therefore, there was a dispute between them and the petitioners were required to file civil suit in this regard. As a counter-blast, the respondents made an application to the Mamlatdar and Agricultural Lands Tribunal, at Vijapur, under Sec. 70(b) of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 ("Tenancy Act" for short), claiming tenancy in respect of Survey No. 671 paiki, admeasuring 2 acres and 10 gunthas. The said application was registered as Tenancy Case No. 27 of 1981. In that case, the case of the respondents was that the land was mortgaged in 1939, but the mortgage was redeemed in 1968. However, the respondents continued to cultivate the land as tenants of the petitioners till 1981 and because the petitioners started cultivating the land in the year 1981, the respondents were constrained to prefer the application under Sec. 70(b) of the Tenancy Act.

(3.) Initially, the Mamlatdar and Agricultural Lands Tribunal, after due inquiry, dismissed the application. The respondents preferred an appeal over the order and the appeal was allowed and the matter was remanded. The matter shuttled between various authorities for some time, and ultimately, an order came to be passed by the Mamlatdar and Agricultural Lands Tribunal on December 9, 1985, holding the present respondents as tenants of the land and directed that they should proceed under Sec. 84 of the Tenancy Act for eviction.