MOHAN Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Mr. Kurdukar, the learned counsel for the petitioner, in the above Special Civil Application, directed against the concurrent Orders of the Revenue Tribunal and the District Deputy Collector, Bhir, under the Maharashtra Agricultural Lands (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, 1961, has submitted three neat points of law in support of the petitioner's case.

(2.) The first contention raised by him was that the two Authorities erred in law in excluding the dependant sister of the father of the holder from the family of the holder. Unfortunately this contention is not tenable having regard to the definition of the word 'member of the family' contained in Section 2 (20) of the Maharashtra Agricultural Land (Ceilings on Holdings) Act, 1961, prior to its recent amendment by Act XXI of 1975 and the two Ordinances. The two Authorities below were, therefore, right in excluding her.

(3.) The second point of law raised by Mr. Kurdukar was that the two Authorities erred in including in the holdings of the petitioner 42 acres of pot-kharab land. The two Authorities have held, having regard to the definition of the word 'land' contained in Section 2 (16) of the Act, as meaning not only land used for the purposes of agriculture, but also land capable of being used for agriculture that the pot-kharab lands, but fallow lands, which were assessed to agricultural assessment. The contention of Mr. Kurdukar cannot be accepted having regard to the definition of the word 'land' in Section 2 (16), rightly relied upon the interpreted by the two Authorities below.