JUDGMENT - V.C. DAGA, J.:---This petition is by a tenant, directed against the order dated 26-2-1982 passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Walva Division, Dist. Sangli directing issuance of certificate in favour of landlords under section 88 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 (Act 'for short') in form No. XIII prescribed under Rule 62(3) of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Rules, 1956 ('Rules' for short) framed under the Act.

THE FACTS

The facts giving rise to the present petition in nutshell are as under :-

2. One Vithoba Deosthan is a registered public Trust registered under B.P.T. Act, 1950. The respondent No. 1 claiming to be vahiwatdar/trustee of the said trust, on 22-4-1974, had applied for grant of exemption certificate under section 88-B of the Act and Rules framed thereunder. The said application was rejected by the then Assistant Collector, Walva Division, Sangli vide its order dated 27-3-1976 holding that no evidence was tendered by the applicant to prove that the income earned by the trust from the registered property i.e. land in question was being appropriated for the purposes of such trust. The applicant/respondent No. 1 was held not eligible for grant of certificate under section 88-B of the Act.

3. The respondent No. 1 had preferred revision petition before the M.R.T. Kolhapur. The same was dismissed on 30-9-1977. The prayer for review also came to be rejected on 2-6-1978. Here the first round of litigation came to and end.

4. The second round of litigation came to be initiated by respondent Nos. 1 to 8, claiming to be the trustees of the trust in question. These respondents preferred another application sometime in the month of June 1979 for grant of exemption certificate under section 88-B of the Act. The said application came to be registered as Tenancy Application No. 1/1979. None from the category of tenants, namely, respondent Nos. 9 to 22 (including present petitioner) were joined as parties to the said application.

5. The Special Sub-Divisional Officer, Walva Division, Sangli, without hearing the petitioner and respondent Nos. 9 to 22 (tenants) passed an order directing grant of exemption certificate under section 88-B of the Act, in favour of the respondents 1 to 8, trustees of the said Vithoba Deosthan Trust in respect of the lands held by the said trust.

6. The aforesaid order, granting exemption certificate in favour of the trust, without affording any opportunity of hearing is a subject matter of challenge in this petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

THE ARGUMENTS

7. The learned Counsel for petitioner-tenant challenged the legality, validity and propriety of the impugned order dated 26-2-1982, and contended that the said order is liable to be set aside being in breach of principles of natural justice, and relied upon the Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of (Keraba Dattu Borachate and others v. Shri Sheshashai and Vishnu Trust)1, 1990(3) Bom.C.R. 656; wherein it was held that notice to tenant was necessary before granting certificate under section 88-B of the Act.

8. The learned Counsel for the respondent Nos. 1 to 8 tried to support the impugned order on the text of section 88-B and contended an enquiry could not be treated at par with that of a judicial trial and relied upon the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of (Maneksha Ardeshir Irani and another v. Manekji Edulji Mistry and others)2, A.I.R. 1974 S.C. 2123, in which it was observed that the inquiry under section 88-B of the Act was between the Collector and the trust and the conclusive evidence clause in sub-section (2) of section 88-B of the Tenancy Act is in the nature of rule of evidence.

9. The learned Counsel for the trustees further contended that the opinion of the Division Bench in the case of Keraba Dattu (supra) if properly read in the light of Supreme Court judgment delivered in the case of Manekji Edulji (supra), then the expression of opinion to this extent was

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