CHHOTUBHAI GOVANBHAI PATEL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE short facts necessary for disposal of the present Writ Application are that since after coming into force of the Gujarat Agricultural Lands Ceiling Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as "the Ceiling Act" for the sake of convenience and brevity), the present petitioner filed his form -cum -return submitting, inter alia, that he possessed 86 Acres and 26 Gunthas land, but, as 63 Acres was khar land, the same would not fall within the mischief of 'the land' and as the same would be exempted land under Section -3 of the Ceiling Act, he was not possessed of excess land. It was also submitted that in view of Section -6(3B) of the Ceiling Act, the petitioner would be entitled to additional unit and lastly, it was submitted that the land was not perennially cultivated, rather it was absolutely dry land and, therefore, an order be passed in his favour that he did not possess excess land.

(2.) SHRI Kharadi, learned Counsel for the petitioner, submits that the authorities were unjustified in not appreciating that the land would not fall within the mischief of the definition of 'land', as provided under Clause -17 of Section -2 of the Ceiling Act. His submission is that as the land is khar land, the same could not be taken to be the land for the purpose of ceiling and the petitioner was entitled to absolute exemption. His further contention is that the question relating to extra unit under Section -6(3B) of the Ceiling Act was not considered and the question of cultivability of land was also not taken into consideration.

(3.) SHRI Hukum Singh, learned Counsel for the respondent -State, on the other hand, submits that the questions relating to extra unit and cultivability of the land were not kept open in the remand order, which, till date remains unchallenged, and under the circumstances, the only question, which was required to be decided by the Mamlatdar, was that whether the land was khar land, as provided under the Gujarat Khar Lands Act, 1963 (hereinafter referred to as "the Khar Lands Act" for the sake of convenience and brevity) or not. His further submission is that Section 3(1)(aa) of the Ceiling Act cannot be read de hors the provisions of the Khar Lands Act.