IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 18665 of 2013 FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:

HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DIVYESH A. JOSHI Sd/-

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Approved for Reporting Yes No 

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MAKHANSINH MULJI RAJPUT & ORS.

Versus STATE OF GUJARAT & ORS.

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Appearance:

DECEASED LITIGANT THROUGH LEGAL HEIRS/ REPRESTENTATIVES for the Petitioner(s) No. 1,2 MR VIMAL A PUROHIT(5049) for the Petitioner(s) No.

1.1,1.2,1.3,1.4,1.5,2.1,2.2,2.3,3,4,5 DELETED for the Respondent(s) No.

10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,3,3.1,4,5,6,7,8,9 MR. JAY TRIVEDI, LD. ASST. GOVERNMENT PLEADER for the Respondent(s) No. 2 RULE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2,22 ==========================================================

CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DIVYESH A. JOSHI Date : 11/03/2026

ORAL JUDGMENT

1. By this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the writ applicants have called in question the legality and validity of the order dated 30.09.2013 passed by the District Collector, Banaskantha, whereby the tenure of the land in question has been changed by the District Collector from ‘Gamthal land’ to an ‘Agricultural land’.

2. Facts, in brief, giving rise to the filing of the present application, may be summarized as under;

2.1 The writ applicants are the absolute owners and occupiers of the land admeasuring 4088.58 square meters, Sheet No.9, Final Plot No.70, Town Planning Scheme No.1 of village: Ambaji, Taluka: Danta, District: Banaskantha. Originally, the land in question was identified by Survey No.15/4, which was a ‘Gamthal’ land.

2.2 The land in question is an ancestral property, originally owned and occupied by the grandfather of the writ applicants, i.e., Chenaji Rajput, and the writ applicants have inherited the land in question being the successor of the said Chenaji Rajput. 2.3 Thereafter, residential houses have been constructed upon the said land, and the writ applicants are in possession of the land in question since decades, i.e., three generations.

2.4 In the year 1959, the District Collector, Banaskantha issued a notification dated 12.01.1959 which was also published in the Government Gazette on 05.01.1959 followed by the Government Resolution dated 14.11.1961, whereby the land in question, originally having Survey No.15/4, was declared as ‘Gamthal’ land, and was entered into the Enquiry Register as ‘A-1’ tenure, and an entry to that effect also came to be mutated and certified on 15.01.1965. Subsequently, CTS number was also allotted to the said property as 227.

2.5 In the aforesaid notification dated 12.01.1959, the land in question was included in the Schedule ‘A’ being non- agricultural land, and thereafter, TP Scheme No.1 also came to be introduced and implemented in the year 1978, wherein the land in question was given Final Plot No.70, City Survey Sheet No.9.

2.6 To the utter shock and surprise of the writ applicants, they were served with the show-cause notice dated 16.08.2004 issued by the District Collector, Banaskantha, wherein it was stated that the land bearing City Survey Nos.190, 191, 192, 194, 195 and 196 Final Plot No.70 (belonging to the writ applicants), 71 and 75 of Sheet Nos.9 and 10 of Village: Ambaji, Taluka: Danta, District: Banaskantha, though being of agriculture nature, the same reflects the tenure as ‘A-1’ in the property card, and as such, the writ applicants as well as other similarly situated persons were called upon to show-cause as to why the same may not be cancelled. It was further stated in the said show-cause notice that Enquiry Register reflects the property as agriculture nature, whereas the property card reflects the property as ‘A- 1” tenure, and therefore, since no entry is mutated with regard to the same in the revenue record, the aforesaid show-cause notice was issued for modification/change of tenure of the la