BHIMASHANKAR AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in this case are the residents of Warwand, tahsil Chikhali, district Buldana. The petitioner No. 1 filed a return under section 12 of the Maharashtra Agricultural Lands (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, 1961, referred to hereinafter as the Ceiling Act, before the Surplus Land Determination Tribunal, Chikhali. In the said return the petitioner No. 1 raised various contentions so far as the transfers of the land effected in the intervening period are concerned. In this writ petition we are only concerned with the two sale-deeds of survey number 184, area 36 acres 28 gunthas of village Warwand. Even according to the petitioners, by virtue of a partition which took place earlier, petitioner No. 3 Parvatibai was the owner of the said field. By virtue of two sale-deeds dated 19-4-1973 the said land was sold to one Gangadhar Murgappa and Kaduba and Suresh. According to the petitioners, these transfers were made with a view to pay the debts incurred for the marriage of their daughter as well as for payment of debts of Co-operative Bank, Land Mortgage Bank etc. In support of their case, the petitioners adduced oral evidence and also produced before the Surplus Land Determination Tribunal various receipts.

(2.) After taking into consideration the said evidence, the learned Tribunal came to the conclusion that the holder was indebted and he had to pay the dues of Co-operative Bank and Land Development Bank etc. However, according to the learned Member of the Tribunal, the sale was merely justified to the extent of 17 acres 34 gunthas land from survey number 184 and, therefore, Surplus Land Tribunal directed that the said 17 acres 34 gunthas will be excluded while calculating the ceiling area of the holder. The Tribunal also negatived other contentions raised on behalf of the landholder and ultimately had delimited as surplus an area of 32 acres 6 gunthas of land.

(3.) The petitioners thereafter filed an appeal before the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal. In the memo of appeal as many as 14 grounds were raised challenging the order of the Surplus Land Determination Tribunal. So far as the sale of land, namely, survey number 184, was concerned, it was contended by the petitioners that the field was sold as there was compelling necessity and it was not sold in order to avoid or defeat the object of the Ceiling Act. According to the petitioners, they were heavily indebted and the dues and the loans of the Co-operative and Land Development Banks, Panchayat Samiti and other Government dues were outstanding against them. According to them, they had also incurred debts to the tune of Rs. 8,000 for the marriage of their daughter which took place in the year 1970. Civil Suits for recovery of Rs. 3,700 and Rs. 4,400 were also pending against petitioner No. 1 Bhima-shankar. According to them, all the relevant papers were filed before the Surplus Land Determination Tribunal to establish their need in this behalf. The receipts in that behalf were also filed. They further contended that the evidence on record clearly indicated that the said transfers were bona fide and, therefore, the Surplus Land Determination Tribunal ought to have excluded them from their holding.