JUDGMENT :

VINEET KOTHARI, J.

1. With the chequered and littered history of litigation, present Intra Court Appeal in a dispute arising under provisions of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 (ULC Act, 1976), has landed on our board from a dispute arising with the execution of a purported Will on 30.5.1974 by one Javerbai w/o Somabhai Mohanbhai in respect of agricultural land bearing Survey No.660/2 and Survey No.662 of Village: Kapurai, District: Vadodara allegedly in favour of the present Petitioners/Appellants namely, (i) Ravhjibhai Chhotabhai Patel, now represented by his Legal Heirs namely, daughter Minaben and son Umeshbhai; (ii) Narayanbhai Chhotabhai Patel; (iii) Manharbhai Chhotabhai Patel; and (iv) Shantilal Chhotabhai Patel, all four said to be related to her, being sons of her husband's brother – Chhotabhai.

2. The learned Single Judge, by the impugned judgment and order dated 27.7.2016, dismissed Special Civil Application No.2206 of 1986 after 30 years of its being filed in the High Court and that too in the second round before the learned Single Judge only; once the earlier order of learned Single Judge dated 16.6.2000 holding the proceedings under ULC Act, 1976 to have abated due to Repeal Act coming into force on 30.3.1999 which was set aside by the Division Bench in Letters Patent Appeal No.81 of 2002, vide CAV Judgment dated 9.5.2002 and again the learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition on 27.7.2016 against which the present Intra Court Appeal was filed in 2016 and was taken up after hearing the lengthy arguments of Mr.Jitendra M. Patel, learned counsel the Appellants and Mr.K.M. Antani, learned Assistant Government Pleader, the same is being disposed of by the present judgment.

3. The said litigation is now being conducted by the Power of Attorney Holder of the Petitioners/Appellants – 4 brothers who were claiming through the Will dated 30.5.1974 by one Anamisharan Brahmbhatt and who seems to be introduced in this litigation in the year 2013 only and whose shoddy role has come under critical comments by the learned Single Judge in the impugned order.

4. The litigation under the ULC Act, 1976 actually started and bloomed out of proportion after the Repeal of the Act itself on 30.3.1999 in the State of Gujarat in pursuance of the enactment of Urban Land Ceiling Repeal Law by Parliament enacted on 18.3.1999 and the State of Gujarat adopted the same in view of Article 252 of the Constitution of India with effect from 30.3.1999 and because of Section 4 of the Repeal Act, 1999 providing for the pending proceeding under the ULC Act, 1976 to be treated as abated, the spree of litigation, started by various stakeholders, bona fide or other type of persons viz. land grabbers or buyers of litigation who made all efforts to show that possession under Section 10(5)/10(6) of the land in question declared surplus or excess under the ULC Act, 1976 was actually never taken and they continued to be in possession and therefore, the proceedings should be treated as abated and the land should continue to vest in the landholders or such successive purchasers, Agreement-holders or persons claiming under unproved or unsubstantiated Wills, Power of Attorney Holders, etc. The length of litigation and series of adjournments in such cases with the ever increasing prices of the land in the meanwhile made this area of litigation far more 'valuable' litigation and such cases fought with all possible weapons in the arsenals of litigants and lawyers.

5. The present case is another such example of the aforesaid type of litigation. The four brothers – Ravhjibhai Chhotabhai Patel and three others claimed under the Will dated 30.5.1974 of Javerbai w/o Somabhai Mohanbhai who died soon after execution of the said Will dated 30.5.1974 on 11.7.1974 without proving the said Will in any Court in probate proceedings or otherwise, they filed Declaration under Section 6 of the ULC Act, 1976 in Form No.1 and vide order dated 30.12.1982,