A judgment obtained by fraud is null and void; prior tenant rights must be respected without proper challenge to their status.

JUDGMENT :

KISHORE C. SANT, J.

This petition arises out of the judgment and order passed by the learned Member, Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal (MRT) in Appeal No. 12/A/2022/H dated 25.01.2023. The learned Member by way of impugned judgment dismissed the appeal. The judgment and order passed by the learned Additional Collector, Hingoli dated 16.03.2022 is confirmed by which application of the respondents came to be allowed. It is directed to learned Tahsildar to give possession of land Survey No. 38 to the petitioners as protected tenants.

2. The dispute revolves around the tenancy rights and eviction proceedings under Section 98 of the Hyderabad Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as “Hyderabad Tenancy Act”). There is checkered history to this litigation. The parties are litigating since last more than 60 years. In the meantime, various proceedings have taken before the Revenue Court which reached even till this High Court. The petitioners claim their right as a tenant and are fighting for the same. The respondent Nos. 2 to 6 - landlords had started proceeding for restoration of possession under Section 98 of the Hyderabad Tenancy Act. The dispute is in respect of land Survey No. 38 Gat No. 189 admeasuring 9H 20R from village Godankheda, Taluka Sengaon, District Hingoli.

3. The facts of this case in short are as below :

4. The suit land was originally owned by one Gajanan Bhagwantrao Kulkarni. The predecessor of the applicant was the protected tenant of the suit land. It is the case of the petitioners that though they were protected tenants of the land Survey No. 38, they were wrongly shown as protected tenants of the land Survey No. 4. After getting the knowledge of this mistake, Ananda Ragho Puri – petitioner filed application under Section 31 (1) of the Lagandari Act, 1950 before the learned Tahsildar. It was the case that, the petitioners were cultivating land Survey No. 38 admeasuring 21 Acres 26 Gunthas, however, the landlord was interfering in the possession. On the basis of application an enquiry was conducted, however, it was only decided that one Rambhau Raghoji was tenant with one Shankar Malhari. The said order was passed on 13.07.1953. Against the said order, appeal was preferred before the learned Collector. That appeal came to be rejected. Against the order of the learned Collector civil revision application was filed before this Court. The said civil revision application came to be dismissed. That litigation ended there and the petitioners were finally shown as tenant in land Survey No. 4 only.

5. It is further case of the petitioners that, they continued to cultivate land Survey No. 38. The name of Rambhau was recorded as tenant in land Survey No. 4. A certificate also came to be issued under Section 38 (E) of the Hyderabad Tenancy Act showing the petitioners as protected tenants of land Gat No. 38 where, the name was shown in the owners column. This certificate was issued on 25.05.1957. Thereafter, one committee was appointed to verify the actual position on the tenanted land headed by learned Tahsildar, Hingoli. An enquiry was completed on 14.06.1958. The objections were called till 23.03.1958. Thereafter, proclamation came to be issued on 14.06.1958 calling for objections about the final list of protected tenants. In the said proceeding it was again confirmed that the petitioners are tenants on land Survey No. 38. However, the owner objected the declaration saying that the petitioners were not tenants of the suit land as the owner at that time was minor. An enquiry came to be conducted before the Tenancy Tribunal. The objection of the landlord came to be rejected. The landlord filed an appeal before the learned Collector. The learned Collector remanded the matter to learned Tahsildar for fresh enquiry. The petitioners filed revision before the MRT challenging the judgment of the learned Collector. The revision came to be allowed by confirming the order of the learned Tahsildar by order