DINKAR LALLUBHAI DESAI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ petition has been filed by the petitioners under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the following prayers:

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the facts of the case, as emerging from a reading of the averments made in the petition are, that the petitioners are holding ancestral immovable properties as members of a Hindu Undivided Family. The details of the properties have been recorded in paragraph 2 of the memorandum of the petition. Upon coming into force of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 ("the Act" for short), the petitioners filled Form No.1 under Section 6 of the Act and applied for exemption under Section 20 thereof on 3.4.1978, for the land bearing Revenue Survey No.152/1+2, for agricultural purposes. The application of the petitioners under Section 20 of the Act was rejected, and an order was passed by the respondent No.2 on 5.12.1985, declaring that the petitioners are not holding any excess vacant land. It is stated in the petition that thereupon, the respondent No.1, in revision proceedings under Section 34 of the Act, vide order dated 28.2.1992, declared the land admeasuring 1357.92 Sq.Mt. as excess vacant land on the ground that tenanted property constructed before the coming into force of the Act was used for residential purpose and, therefore, cannot be deducted from the holding of the petitioners. Being aggrieved by the said order, the petitioners made an application to the respondent No.1 vide letter dated 23.3.1992, to review the matter. However, it is averred that even though the application of the petitioners was pending before the respondent No.1, the respondent No.2 prepared a final statement dated 27.9.1993. The petitioners, therefore, again applied for grant of exemption under Section 20 of the Act, on 4.4.1994. According to the averments made in the petition, the said application, annexed as Annexure -G to the petition, is still pending before the respondents. It is the case of the petitioners that they are in possession of the said lands and the State Government or the Competent Authority has not taken over the possession of the land in question being Revenue Survey No.152 Paiki of Village Katargam, Taluka: Choryasi (City), District: Surat, on or before 30.3.1999, and in such circumstances, the proceedings initiated by the State Government stand abated in view of the provisions of Section 4 of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Repeal Act, 1999.

(3.) AN affidavit -in -reply has been filed by Shri J.B.Patel, Competent Authority and Additional Collector, U.L.C., Surat, on 26.12.2007. It is stated in the said affidavit that the Competent Authority had passed the order declaring the excess land admeasuring 1357.92 Sq.Mt. of village Katargam, Revenue Survey No.152/1 -2 Paiki vide order dated 27.9.1993, and that Notification under Section 10(1) of the Act has been published on 22.12.1993 and, further, the Notification under Section 10(3) of the Act has been published on 2.5.1996. It is further averred in the affidavit, that the petitioner preferred the present writ petition against the order dated 28.2.1992 passed by the Government under Section 34 of the Act and also against the order dated 27.9.1993 passed by the Competent Authority and Deputy Collector, U.L.C., Surat. The averments made in the affidavit filed by Mr.J.B.Patel make it very clear that thereafter, the possession of the land in question had not been taken over by the State Government before the coming into force of the Repeal Act. The relevant portion of the averments made in the said affidavit are being reproduced: