CHANDLULA P. PATEL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants have filed these appeals under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the judgment and order dated 23.04.2004 passed by the learned Single Judge dismissing the Special Civil Application No.3208 of 1992

(2.) The facts in nutshell for the purpose of deciding this Appeal are as under:- 2. 1 The issue is pertaining to agricultural land bearing Survey No. 269/1, 552/1 and 552/2 of Village: Okaf (Sarkhej), Taluka: City of Ahmedabad. 2. 2 One Prahladbhai Ramdas Patel who is the father of the appellants - orig. petitioners no. 1 to 6 and husband of appellant - orig. petitioner no. 7 filed a Form under Section 6 of the Urban Land Ceiling Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as 'the ULC Act' for the sake of brevity). Prahladbhai Ramdas Patel expired on 31.08.1978 leaving behind the aforementioned ancestral property in the form of agricultural lands. 2. 3 In response to the Form No. 6 filed by the father of the appellants - orig. petitioners, the competent authority issued Draft Statement in 1982 and the appellant no.1 appeared before the competent authority on 01.01.1983 and submitted an application regarding death of his father, along with this, the appellant also contended that there is no excess vacant land and the agricultural holding of the family need be treated as excess vacant land. The competent authority, however, by an order dated 22.03.1984 declared 26407 sq. mtrs. of the aforementioned land to be excess vacant land. This order was addressed in the name of a person who had filed a Form No.6 but who had expired. 2. 4 When the appellants received the Final Statement under Section 9 of the ULC Act, they obtained a copy of the order dated 22.03.1984 and filed an Appeal under Section 33 of the ULC Act before the Urban Land Tribunal contending, interalia, that since the order was passed against the dead person and that the land in question are all agricultural lands, the order of the competent authority be treated as nullity. It was also contended that, the part of the land which was a Vada land, for which an application under Section 20 of ULC Act was filed and pending the decision of the State Government. The Tribunal by its order dated 08.12.1988 dismissed the said Appeal and confirmed the order of the competent authority. 2. 5 The aforementioned order of the competent authority, confirmed by the Tribunal was challenged by the appellants before this Court in Special Civil Application No. 4967 of 1989. This petition came to be dismissed by an order dated 02.07.1990, which reads as under:

(3.) The chronology of dates which is disputed is as under: 3. 1 On 22.03.1984, the competent authority took a decision on the Form No.6 declaring 26,407 sq.mtrs. as excess vacant land. After this order, Notification under Section 10 (3) was issued on 29.06.1989. Notice under Section 10 (5) came to be issued on 31.05.1990. Thereafter, on 09.01.1992, the possession of the excess vacant land was taken over by preparing a Panchnama for possession. 3. 2 The decision of the competent authority and the Tribunal was challenged by way of Special Civil Application No. 4967 of 1989, which came to be rejected by an order dated 02.07.1990 by holding that the land in question has vested in the Government and the petitioners cannot claim any right, title or interest, ultimately, rejected the petition. After the order passed in Review Application, the appellants filed present petition, on 20.04.1992. This Court initially granted an order to the effect that, if the possession of the land is already taken, then the same may be taken. The petition came to be admitted on 24.01.1994 and pending the petition, Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulations) Repeal Act came into force from 30.03.1999.