THAKORE OMKARSINHJI RANJITSINHJI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Can a Wanta holder whose Wanta rights in land are abolished by the Legislature claim compensation for the loss of opportunity to sell water from a natural pool formed by the perennial flow of waters of a river which was a Natures gift and for the creation of which pool of water he did not have either to sweat or toil or to pay any price ? The view taken by the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal (G.R.T.) that the petitioner a Talukdari Wanta holder of lands whose rights in the lands and the tenure on which the lands were held were abolished under the Gujarat Surviving Alienations Abolition Act 1963 (Act) was not entitled to claim compensation in respect of extinguishment of his rights in respect of a pool of water created by the perennial flow of waters of river Mahi under sec. 14 of the Act is challenged by way of this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India directed against order at Annexure B dated August 30 1972 rendered by the G. R. T.

(2.) The petitioner was a Wanta holder in respect of Sonipur situated in Taluka Taluka of Kaira District. He held certain lands on a tenure known as Wanta tenure. The tenure was abolished as per the ACt which came into force on October 1 1963 The rights of the petitioner in res- pect of the lands held by him on the aforesaid tenure were extinguished as per sec. 11 which reads as under :

(3.) Compensation in respect of the extinguishment of the right in relation to the water in Kaldhara pool was claimed under clause (v) of sec. 14 on the premise that the Kaldhara pool was a structure within the meaning of the said clause. Now it is provided by clause (v) that if there are any trees or structures on the land to which clause (i) or (ii) of sec. 14 applies the amount of compensation shall be the market value of such trees or structures as the case may be. In the first place a pool (which has come into existence on account of the forces of nature) in which the perennial water from the Mahi river collects in the ordinary course of nature cannot fall within the description of a structure. The expression structure has been defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary Fifth Edition as under :