Judgment

AHMADI, J.:- The appellant was taken in adoption in the family of his uncle. On adoption he got agricultural land admeasuring about 28 acres from the adoptive family. His natural father died leaving behind no other heir. Thereupon land admeasuring 19 acres and 19-1/2 gunthas was inherited by the appellant as nephew (since his natural father became his uncle on his adoption). The Commissioner, Bombay Division, in exercise of power under Section 45(2) of the Maharashtra Agricultural Land (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, 1961 came to the conclusion that the land inherited by the appellant was a separate property and could not be characterised as ancestral property. This view of the Commissioner came to be confirmed by the High Court in a Writ Petition brought under Article 227 of the Constitution. The High Court also rejected the contention that the inherited property got blended with the ancestral property and hence it had acquired the character of an ancestral property. The appellants contention was that the 1/5th share of his major son in the ancestral property had to be determined on a notional partition and deducted from his holding for the purpose of determining the surplus ar