JUDGMENT :

(Sunil B. Shukre, J.)

1. Heard.

2. By this reference, we have been called upon to answer a question which arises quite often while applying the provisions of Section 3 of the Maharashtra Restoration of Lands to Scheduled Tribes, 1974 (for short “Restoration Act”) and which has intrigued legal minds in the State of Maharashtra for quite sometime. For answering the question, a brief reference to the facts of the case would be useful.

3. The petitioner, a non-tribal, is an owner of the agricultural field involved in the petition, which is hereinafter called as ‘the land in question’. It was purchased by the petitioner from respondent no.4 vide registered sale deed dated 26.06.1994. The land in question was a part of larger piece of land belonging to father of respondent no.1 late Mr. Shekorao who sold it to one Dhansingh Rathod by executing the sale deed in the year 1968. Dhansing, thereafter, partitioned the land and the land in question came to the share of respondent no.2. Respondent no.2 sold the land in question to the respondent no.4 and thereafter the respondent no.4, on 22.06.1994, sold the land in question to the petitioner and since then the petitioner is in conti