Gujarat High Court
Judgename :S.H.SHETH
PATEL GORDHANBHAI GARBADBHAI - Appellant
Versus
PATEL BHAGWANDAS SANABHAI - Respondent
S.C.A. 120 of 1975
Decided On : 04/16/1975
Bombay tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act 1949 – Section 31, 29 – Tenancy Act – Section 15 – Bombay Revenue Tribunal Act 1957 – Section 17, 76 – Code of Civil Procedure –Order 47 Rule 1 – Constitution of India – Article 227 – According to petitioner all aforesaid lands were owned by respondents and one Fulabhai on April - Respondents were then minors – However since one of co-owners Fulabhai was major according to petitioner lands vested in him as deemed purchaser – Respondents Nos. 1 and 2 filed an application under sec. 31 read with sec. 29 of Bombay tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act 1949 for recovering possession of all lands on ground that they require them bona fide for their personal cultivation – They had prior to institution of aforesaid proceedings terminated tenancy of petitioner by a notice dated October – Aforesaid proceedings were instituted by them on October – Mamlatdar of Bhiloda decided application by his order dated 15th November 1964 and held that it was not maintainable – He therefore dismissed it – Landlords appealed against that order to Prant officer Himatnagar who by his order dated April held that petitioner had ceased to be tenant in respect of all lands – Held, It is clear from two decisions of Supreme Court refer- red to above that power of reviewing its earlier decision is a limited power and can be exercised only inter alia for purpose of correcting a patent error or on other sufficient grounds analogous to grounds specified in Rule I of Order 47 – Principle laid down in aforesaid two decisions Bombay Revenue Tribunal Act 1957 What Revenue Tribunal did while exercising its review power was to rehear matter to re-appreciate evidence and to reconsider case of both parties and to arrive at a conclusion different from what it had arrive court at an earlier stage – On reading what Revenue Tribunal has stated in paragraphs 14 to 23 of its impugned decision court have no doubt in my mind that in guise of exercising power to review its earlier decision Revenue Tribunal has really sat in appeal over its earlier decision and examined entire case de novo – That is not in court opinion scope and ambit of sub-sec. (1) of see. 17 of Bombay Revenue Tribunal Act 1957 which governs Gujarat Revenue Tribunal – Ordered Accordingly
( 1 ) THE petitioner is the tenant in respect of S. Nos. 31 32 33 37 and 39 of village Vantadi under Bhiloda Taluka of Sabarkantha District and of S. Nos. 76 78 79 86 89 and 91 of Village Dhuleta under Bhiloda Taluka of Sabarkantha District. All the aforesaid survey numbers of village Vantadi admeasure 20 acres and 18 gunthas. All the aforesaid survey numbers of village Dhuleta admeasure 56 acres and 29 gunthas The total is 77 acres-7 gunthas. The respondents are the landlords and they are brothers.
( 2 ) ACCORDING to the petitioner all the aforesaid lands were owned by the respondents and one Fulabhai on 1st April 1957 The respondents were then minors. However since one of the co-owners Fulabhai was major according to the petitioner the lands vested in him as the deemed purchaser. The respondents Nos. 1 and 2 filed an application under sec. 31 read with sec. 29 of the Bombay tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act 1949 (hereinafter referred to as the Tenancy Act for the sake of brevity) for recovering possession of all lands on the ground that they require them bona fide for their personal cultivation. They had prior to the institution of the aforesaid proceedings terminated the tenancy of the petitioner by a notice dated 11th October 1962 The aforesaid proceedings were instituted by them on 18th October 1962 The Mamlatdar of Bhiloda decided the application by his order dated 15th November 1964 and held that it was not maintainable. He therefore dismissed it. The landlords appealed against that order to the Prant officer Himatnagar who by his order dated 16th April 1964 held that the petitioner had ceased to be the tenant in respect of all the lands except 8 acres-22 gunthas. He therefore ordered the tenant to surrender to the landlords under sec. 15 of the Tenancy Act all other lands admeasuring 68 acres-25 gunthas.
( 3 ) THE tenant challenged that order in a Revision Application which he filed before the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal. The Revenue Tribunal by its order dated 28th March 1969 remanded the case to the Prant Officer Himatnagar to take evidence on the question whether any of the lands which were the subject matter of those proceedings had been acquired by the State Government for Hathmati Reservoir and to determine how much land was left with the tenant for the purpose of continuing the aforesaid proceedings. On remand the Prant Officer by his order dated 20th September 1971 held that the tenant had ceased to be the tenant in respect of 68 acres and 25 gunthas because that much area he had been holding in excess of the ceiling area. So far as the remaining land admeasuring 8 acres and 22 gunthas was concerned the tenant was allowed to continue in possession thereof. The Prant Officer did not decide after remand how much land had been acquired by the State Government for Hathmati Reservoir.
( 4 ) THE tenant appealed against that decision to the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal. The Revenue Tribunal by its order dated 15th February 1973 partially allowed the Revision Application and found that 64 acres and 2 gunthas were acquired by the Government for Hathmati Reservoir and that the tenant had in his possession land admeasuring 13 acres and 5 gunthas. The Revenue Tribunal therefore ordered that the possession of half of the said land should be handed over by the tenant to the landlords under sec. 31 because the landlords were found to be bonafide requiring it for their personal cultivation. The Revenue Tribunal while stating the details in its judgment held that S. No. 86 admeasuring 7 acres 16 gunthas and S. No. 89 admeasuring 5 acres-28 gunthas both of village Dhuteta had remained with the tenant. The landlords felt aggrieved by this decision of the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal. They did not challenge it in a writ petition before this Court. However they filed before the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal an application for review of the said order on two grounds. It was contended that the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal had not conside
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