SUVARNA APPASAHEB KSHIRSAGAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By the present Writ Petition instituted under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have invoked the extraordinary writ jurisdiction of this Court, seeking to impugn the judgment and order dtd. 7/3/2013, passed by respondent No.1 in Application No.DEV-1012/P.K.130/L4, whereby respondent No.1 has withdrawn the exemption earlier granted from payment of land revenue in respect of the land in question, and has withheld the privilege of exemption from payment of land revenue as contemplated under Clause 66 of the Joglekar Law Manual.

(2.) The facts and circumstances giving rise to the filing of the present Writ Petition, briefly stated, are as under:

(3.) According to the petitioners, their predecessor-in-title, one Ganapati Vithu Gurav, was a priest (Gurav) who was performing the religious rituals and managing the affairs of the said temple. It is the case of the petitioners that the land bearing Revision Survey No.1052 was part and parcel of the Inam land pertaining to the said Deity and temple. In or about the year 1930, the name of Dadu Rama Gurav came to be recorded in the revenue records in respect of the said land, and subsequently, the name of Govind Dadu Gurav was recorded. The Land Alienation Register, the Dumala Register, Mutation Entry No.4669, and the Record of Rights pertaining to the said land, as well as the Inam Patrak, consistently describe the said land as Class III Devasthan Inam land.