THAKKAR SHANTILAL MOHANLAL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner challenges the order of the Revenue Tribunal made on 31.7.1989 in Appeal Ten. A.A. No. 51/85 dismissing the petitioner's appeal and upholding the order of the Collector made on 29th March, 1985 in suo motu revision application no. 1/84-85 by which the Collector set aside the order dated 31.5.1983 of the Assistant Collector, granting permission to the petitioner in respect of the sale transaction in question under the provisions of the second proviso to Section 54(1) of the Saurashtra Gharkhed, Tenancy Settlement & Agricultural Lands Ordinance, 1947, and revoking the certificate dated 29.4.83 issued by the Assistant Collector showing that the petitioner was having annual income of less than Rs. 5,000.00.

(2.) As per the certificate dated 29.4.1983, a copy of which is annexed at Annexure:A to the petition, the Assistant Collector, Dhangadhra had certified under Rule 18 read with Section 54 of the said Ordinance that the income of the petitioner did not exceed Rs. 5,000.00. It is evident from the certificate that pursuant to the application dated 30.11.1982 made by the petitioner for seeking such certificate, the Mamlatdar, Halwad, had forwarded that application with a recommendation to the Assistant Collector. The Assistant Collector on 26.4.1983 gave a personal hearing to the petitioner during which the petitioner produced his affidavit, stating that his income did not exceed Rs.5,000.00. He also gave a statement to the effect that he had experience of agricultural work and he would, on issuance of the certificate, acquire agricultural implements. In the certificate, a condition was imposed that such agricultural implements should be acquired by the petitioner within six months from the date of receipt of such certificate and that prior permission should be obtained before effecting any purchase of the agricultural land. Thereafter, the petitioner purchased agricultural land under the sale deed dated 15.6.1983 for which permission was obtained from the Assistant Collector, Dhangadhra on 31.5.1983. As per the order, a copy of which is at Annexure:B to the petition, that permission was given in the context of the certificate in which it was certified that the income of the petitioner did not exceed Rs. 5,000.00.

(3.) It appears that after a period of one year and four months from the date of the issuance of the certificate on the basis of which the petitioner already made purchase of the land in question on 15.6.1983, a show cause notice was issued in purported exercise of the revisional powers by the Collector, calling upon the petitioner as to why the certificate and the order should not be held to be illegal on the ground that the income of the joint family of the petitioner was more than Rs. 5,000.00. The Collector in his revisional order observed that the petitioner did not adduce sufficient evidence in support of the fact that his income did not exceed Rs.5,000.00, in response to the show cause notice. It was noted that the petitioner was having a ration card for sugar. The Collector held that the income of the petitioner was more than Rs.5,000.00 and, therefore, the permission was illegally granted to the petitioner in respect of the purchase made by him in respect of the land in question under Section-54 of the Act. The order granting permission as well as certificate were, therefore, revoked by the Collector on 29.5.1985.