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1999 Supreme(Guj) 571
Gujarat High Court
Judgename :S.K.Keshote
BAYAD TAL ANUSUCHIT JAN-JATI ANE ANYA SAMUDAYAK MANDLI LIMITED - Appellant
Versus
STATE - Respondent
S.C.A. 3053 of 1986
Decided On : 10/21/1999
Headnote:(a) Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 (Guj. 10 of 1962) - Registration of Society - Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling Act, 1960 - Allotment of land - Society also applied and conditional allotment - To remove four member of Patel Caste and secondly to register the society - The condition for removal of member of society is uncalled for - Society wholly controlled by Patel Caste - Hence without removal of 4 persons land cannot be allotted - Whether condition put up by competent authority is legal and reasonable or the arbitrary - Held, removal of four members from society is wholly devoid of any substance and cannot be accepted.
Patels themselves should have withdrawn from the membership of the society after this condition if they are really a bonafide persons or if they are acting bonafide. The insistence of the society for deletion of this condition goes to show that it is totally controlled and managed by these four Patels and other eleven members are only dummy members. The grievance of the petitioner against the imposition of the condition to remove four Patels members from the membership of the Society is wholly devoid of any substance and the same can not be accepted.
[Para 9]
(b) Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 (Guj. 10 of 1962) - Registered Co-operative Societies - Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling Act, 1960 - Allotment of land surplus to cooperative society - Object of Act to distribute land to landless person - The Land for Adivasi - The Authority allotted land in proportionate to other society - Whether the action of Authority for proportionate is just, fair and in furtherance of the object of Act or contrary to the provision of ceiling Act - Allotting Authority acted in consonance with object and purpose of Act.
Distribution of surplus land is the only purpose and object of this Act and in this case by allotting the land in proportion to the members of the two societies, the allotting authority has acted in consonance with the object and purpose of the Act to which decision no exception can be taken.
[Para 10]
(c) Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 (Guj. 10 of 1962) - Registered Co-operative Society - Conditional allotment of land - Condition to remove 4 persons of Patel community from membership of society not complied condition - The registration of society cancelled and the allotment of land to society was cancelled by competent authority - Exercise of power of authority - Locus standi of society - Open to allotting authority to cancel the allotment of society.
It is suffice to say that after the cancellation of registration of the petitioner society and the dismissal of the writ petition challenging that order, the cooperative society has lost its locus standi in the matter, in fact, the allotment of this land has to be cancelled.
[Para 11]
In view of this fact, it is open to the allotting authority to cancel the allotment of the petitioner society and take back the possession of the land forthwith.
[Para 12]
( 1 ) THE petitioner No. 1, Bayad Taluka Anusuchit Janajati Ane Anya Samudayak Sahakari Kheti Mandli Ltd. is a cooperative society registered under the provisions of the Gujarat Cooperative Societies Act, 1961. The second petitioner is the Chairman of the petitioner No. 1 -Society. This society was registered by certificate dated 2 6/02/1986 issued by the Assistant District Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Sabarkantha District Panchayat. Along with the registration of the Society, its bye-laws were also registered by the Assistant District Registrar of the Cooperative Societies subject to certain modifications. The bye-laws inter-alia provide as its object to undertake cooperative farming and the first petitioner- Society is a cooperative farming society. The petitioner submits that majority members of the society belong to scheduled tribes and all of them are agricultural landless labourers. Total number of members of the petitioner -Society is 15 out of which 11 members belong to scheduled tribes and remaining 4 members belong to higher caste but they are farmers having small holdings. The area of operation of the petitioner-society, as per the case of the petitioners, is confined to village Demai, Desaipura. In the revenue limits of village Demai, there is a compact block of land admeasuring 104 acres and 22 gunthas which has been vested in the State Government under the provisions of section 21 of the Gujarat Agricultural Lands Ceiling Act, 1960. The Mamlatdar and A. L. T. , Modasa, invited applications for allotment of the above referred land and the applications were to be submitted on or before 1 7/02/1976. The petitioner-Society in response to that advertisement applied for allotment of the entire land admeasuring 104 acres and 22 gunthas. The Deputy Collector, Modasa under its order dated 28/05/1986 decided to allot the land admeasuring 35 acres and 9 gunthas from compact block of land to the petitioner -Society subject to certain conditions and remaining land was granted to the respondent No. 3- society. It is not in dispute that the respondent No. 3 - society is also a registered cooperative society and all the members of it belong to scheduled tribes and it is also a farming society of agricultural landless labourers. One of the conditions of allotment of the said land to the petitioner -society was that it has to remove four members belonging to Patel community within 15 days as per the State Government circular of Revenue department dated 30/04/1986 and second condition was to produce registration certificate legally recognised. The petitioners challenge the order of Deputy Collector, Modasa to the extent it relates to the grant of 69 acres and 13 gunthas of the land of this block in favour of respondent No. 3 society and the condition to remove the members belonging to Patel community from the membership of the Society.
( 2 ) THIS petition came up for admission before this court on 18/06/1986, on which date, notice was issued and interim relief in terms of para-15 (D) and (E) has been granted. Thereafter on 23/07/1986, this matter has been admitted and after hearing the counsel for the parties, this court by way of interim arrangement directed that the competent authority would hand over the possession of the respective lands allotted to the parties by the impugned order. However, it is made clear that this arrangement would not create any right in the parties and is subject to final direction which may be issued. It has further been ordered that till the matter is decided, the competent authority would not insist for the condition that the petitioner- society should remove persons belonging to Patel community from the membership of the society.
( 3 ) THIS petition has been contested by the respondents No. 1 and 2. They filed detailed affidavit in reply. The respondent No. 3 has also filed affidavit in reply. However, to the affidavit in reply of the respondent No. 3, the petitioner has not f
