STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. HARISHCHANDRASINHJI B. JADEJA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the captioned appeals, the challenge, is to the CAV judgment dtd. 20/12/2005 passed by the learned single Judge whereby, the writ petition being Special Civil Application no.13065 of 1994, has been allowed and (i) order dtd. 16/8/1993 passed by the Mamlatdar and ALT, Lodhika; (ii) order dtd. 9/12/1993 passed by the Deputy Collector; and (iii) order dtd. 12/10/1994 passed by the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as "the Tribunal"), have been quashed and set aside. Special Civil Application no.10235 of 1996 filed by the State Government, has been dismissed and Special Civil Application no.5174 of 1996 by the petitioner-holder, has been disposed of, it having been rendered infructuous in view of the repeal of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as "the ULC Act").

(2.) Center to the issue, is land bearing survey no.250, admeasuring 198 acres and 39 gunthas of village Raiya (hereinafter referred to as "the land in question") and the proceedings arising out of the Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling (Amendment) Act, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as "the Amendment Act of 1972"), which came to be enacted with effect from 1/4/1976 so also the scope of remand order passed by the Apex Court and the co-ordinate bench of this Court. Issue, ancillary to the main issue, also touches the provisions of the ULC Act.

(3.) Ms Manisha Luvkumar Shah, learned Additional Advocate General, assisted by Mr Siddharth Rami, learned Assistant Government Pleader submitted that as per the definition contained in sub-sec. (17) of Sec. 2, the expression "land", inter alia, means land which is used or capable of being used for agricultural purposes. The definition is an inclusive definition. By virtue of the amendment, sub-sec. (6) was added in Sec. 2 of the principal Act, defining the term "class of land" to mean, inter alia, "dry crop land". Clause (e) to Explanation-I, states that "dry crop land" means land other than the land specified in paragraphs (a) to (c) and grass land, that is to say, land which abounds in grass grown naturally which is capable of being used for agricultural purposes. It is further submitted that grass grows naturally in the bid land and the land in question, undisputedly being bid land, would be covered within the definition "land" as defined under sub-sec. (17) of Sec. 2 read with sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 2 of the Act of 1960 without any interpretative aid from the amended definition of "land" and "agriculture" under the Amendment Act of 1972. Further, sub- Sec. (17) of Sec. 2 had undergone a change and the land, inter alia, means the bid lands held by the Girasdars or Barkhalidars under the Saurashtra Land Reforms Act, 1951, the Saurashtra Barkhali Abolition Act, 1951 or the Saurashtra Estates Acquisition Act, 1952, as the case may be. It is submitted that the ceiling area was specified in Schedule-I, providing various classes and Class 'H', covered local areas including district Rajkot and taluka Lodhika. Ceiling area was 120 acres as per the Act of 1960 and as per the Amendment Act of 1972, the ceiling area was reduced to 51 acres.