Advocates:
['WARAMAA B R', 'COPY SERVED ON G P', '', 'G P']

P.I.L. No.10/2015

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,

BENCH AT AURANGABAD

PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO.10 OF 2015

Shankarlal s/o Shriram Lohiya

Age 77 years, Occu. Pensioner,

R/o Nalani, Tal. Dist. Jalna

At present C/o Manoj Lohiya,

Supdt. of Police (Rural), Pune

PAN – Non Tax Payer

...

PETITIONER

VERSUS

1.

The State of Maharashtra

(through the Secretary,

Revenue Department,

Mantralaya, Mumbai – 32)

2.

The Collector,

Jalna

3.

The Tahsildar, Bhokardan,

District Jalna.

...

RESPONDENTS

.....

Shri B.R. Warma, Advocate for petitioner

Shri P.K. Lakhotiya, A.G.P. for respondents

.....

CORAM:

PRASANNA B. VARALE AND

R.G. AVACHAT, JJ.

Date of reserving judgment :

3rd JULY, 2019.

Date of pronouncing judgment : 8th AUGUST, 2019

JUDGMENT (PER R.G. AVACHAT, J.) :

The petitioner, by this Public Interest Litigation (P.I.L.),

has sought for the direction to the respondent No.1, the State of

P.I.L. No.10/2015

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Maharashtra, to issue 7/12 extracts of agricultural lands in

adherence with Scheme of Section 148 of the Maharashtra Land

Revenue Code (for short M.L.R.C.), by incorporating word 'owner'

instead of 'occupant – Class – I' and/ or to issue necessary

directions for correction of revenue record to that e昀昀ect.

2.

The petitioner claims to be the owner, in possession

of agricultural land, being Gat No.2/4, situated at village Nalani,

Taluka Bhokardan, District Jalna. Before the year 2010, 7/12

extracts of agricultural lands were issued in printed form and

manually 昀椀lled in. The 7/12 extract issued before 2010 contained

information regarding identi昀椀cation of agricultural lands, owner

thereof, cultivator, nature of crop and other rights. Now-a-days,

record of rights of agricultural lands is preserved in Computer.

Computer prints thereof are issued. Of late, the 7/12 extracts

contain word 'occupant' instead of 'owner'.

There is

inconsistency in maintaining record of rights of agricultural lands

in State of Maharashtra. The 7/12 extracts issued in some parts

of Maharashtra contain the column 'owner' while in other parts, it

is 'occupant'.

The petitioner, therefore, made several

representations to the Director of Land Records, the Collector,

Jalna and other authorities to do away with the anomaly. Since

no heed was paid to the representations preferred by the

petitioner, the present P.I.L. came to be 昀椀led.

P.I.L. No.10/2015

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3.

Heard. Mr. B.R. Warma, learned counsel for the

petitioner made his submissions consistent with the pleadings in

the P.I.L. The learned counsel took us through the relevant

provisions of the M.L.R.C. and the Rules made thereunder, to

submit that the 7/12 extracts issued now-a-days do not contain

the column 'owner'. The practice of issuing 7/12 extracts

disclosing name of the occupant of the land is inconsistent with

the mandate of Section 148 of M.L.R.C. In all other allied Laws,

such as Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, Ceiling Act,

the records maintained under these Acts disclose the names of

the owners of the lands. There is quite a distinction between the

term 'owner' and 'occupant'. The term 'occupant' infers the

person even other than the 'owner'. When a particular person is

the owner of the land, his name should appear as such in the

7/12 extract, showing his name as 'occupant'. The 7/12 extracts

containing term 'occupant' causes great inconvenience for raising

loan from 昀椀nancial institutions. According to learned counsel, it

is, therefore, necessary that necessary corrections/ change is

made in the form of the 7/12 extract with a view to disclose in

what capacity the occupant holds the land such as, whether by

way of ownership, lessee, mortgagee etc.

4.

The learned counsel relied on the judgment of the

Apex Court in case of Narayan Laxman Patil V/s Gala

Construction Company Private Limited & others, reported in

P.I.L. No.