GUJARAT DEVASTHAN INAM ABOLITION ACT, 1969
(1) This Act may be called the Gujarat Devasthan Inam Abolition Act, 1969.
(2) It extends to the Bombay area of the State of Gujarat.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,
(1) "appointed day" means the date on which this Act comes into force;
(2) "assessment" in relation to any land means-
(a) the assessment fixed on the land under the Code immediately before the appointed day, and
(b) where no assessment was so fixed on the land, the amount which would have been fixed as assessment on the land under section 52 of the Code;
(3) "authorised holder" in relation to a Devasthan land means a person in whom the ownership of such land vests permanently whether by virtue of the operation of the tenancy law or of any kind of valid transfer made otherwise than under the tenancy law;
(4) "
References in this Act to the incidents of Devasthan inams shall, notwithstanding the abolition of the Devasthan inams under this Act, be construed as references to the incidents as they were in force immediately before the appointed day.
(1) If any question arises-
(a) whether any village, portion of a village or land, is held under a Devasthan inam, or .
(b) whether any Devasthan inam consists of-
(i) merely a total or partial exemption from payment of land revenue, or
(ii) a grant of soil, with or without exemption from payment of land revenue, or
(iii) assignment of land revenue of a village, portion of village or land or a share in such land revenue, or
(c) whether any person is an inamdar, authorised holder, unauthorised holder or inferior holder,
the State Government shall after giving an opportunity to the parties to be heard and holding a for
Notwithstanding any usage or custom, settlement, grant, agreement, sanad or order or anything contained in any decree or order of a court or any law for the time being applicable to any Devasthan inam, with effect on and from the appointed day-
(a) all Devasthan inams except in so far as they consists of a grant or recognition as a grant of cash allowance or allowance in kind shall be and are hereby abolished,
(b) save as expressly provided by or under this Act, all rights legally subsisting immediately before the said day, in the Devasthan inams so abolished and all other incidents of such inams shall be and are hereby extinguished; and
(c) subject to the other provisions of this Act, all Devasthan lands shall be and are hereby made liable to the payment of land revenue in accordance with the
In the case of a Devasthan land, the person deemed to be the occupant primarily liable to the State Government for payment of land revenue in respect of such land in accordance with the provisions of the Code and the rules made thereunder shall be,-
(a) where such land is in possession of the inamdar and had been cultivated on behalf of the inamdar immediately before the appointed day, the inamdar,
(b) where such land is in the possession of an authorised holder or an inferior holder, such authorised holder or inferior holder, as the case may be, and
(c) where such land is in possession of a person other than the inamdar, authorised holder, unauthorised holder or inferior holder, the inamdar.
(1) Where any Devasthan land is in the possession of an unauthorised holder, it shall be resumed and such unauthorised holder shall be summarily evicted therefrom by the Collector in accordance with (he provisions of the Code:
Provided that where in the case of any unauthorised holder the State Government is of opinion (hat in view of (he investment by such holder in the development of the land or in the non-agricultural use of the land or otherwise, the eviction of such holder from the land will involve undue hardship to him, the Slate Government may direct the Collector to regrant the land to such holder on payment of such amount and subject to such terms and conditions as the State Government may determine and the Collector shall regrant the land to such holder accordingly.
(2) Devas than land which is not regrantcd under sub-section
All public roads, lanes and paths, the bridges, ditches, dikes and fences, on or beside the same, beds of creeks below high water mark, and beds of rivers, streams and nallas, lakes, wells, tanks, canals and water courses, and all standing and flowing water, and all lands (excluding lands used for building or other non-agricultural purposes) in respect of which no person is deemed to be an occupant under this Act, and all mines whether being worked or not and minerals, whether discovered or not and all quarries, which are situate within the limits of any Devasthan land shall, except in so far as any rights of any person other than the inamdar may be established in or over the same and except as may otherwise be provided by any law for the time being in force, vest in, and shall be deemed to be with all rights in or over the same or appertaining thereto the property of the State Government and all rights held by an inamdar in such property shall be deemed to have been
In the case of a Devasthan inam not consisting of a grant or recognition as a grant of cash allowance or allowance in kind, there shall be paid to the inamdar as compensation for the abolition of all his rights in Devasthan inam, in the form of an annuity in perpetuity,-
(a) a sum of money equal to an average of the full assessment lawfully leviable on all the lands comprised in such inam during a period of three years immediately preceding the appointed day, if the grant consisted of grant of soil with or without exemption from payment of land revenue,
(b) a sum of money equal to an average of the amount of land revenue or, as the case may be, the share in such land revenue received or due to the inamdar during a period of three years immediately preceding the appointed day, if the grant consisted of assignment of land revenue or a shar
(1) Any inamdar entitled to compensation under section 9 shall within the prescribed period apply in writing to the Collector for determining the amount of compensation payable to him, under the said section.
(2) On receipt of an application under sub-section (1) the Collector shall after making formal inquiry in the manner provided by the Code make in such form as may be prescribed an award determining the amount of compensation.
(1) It any person is aggrieved by the provisions of this Act as abolishing, extinguishing or modifying any of his rights to or interest in, property and if compensation for such abolition, extinguishment or modification has not been provided for in the other provisions of this Act, such person may apply to the Collector for compensation.
(2) The application under sub-section (1) shall be made to the Collector in the prescribed form within the prescribed period. The Collector shall, after holding a formal inquiry in the manner provided by the Code, make an award determining the compensation in the manner and according to the method provided for in sub-section (1) of section 23 and section 24 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (I of 1894).
(3) Nothing in this section shall entitle any person to compensation on the ground that any Devasthan
(1) Every award made under section 11 shall be in the form prescribed in section 26 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (I of 1894) and the provisions of the said Act, shall, so far as may be, apply to the making of such award.
(2) No award of compensation under this Act in excess of five thousand rupees shall be made by an officer not being a Collector under section 8 of the Code except with the previous approval of-
(a) the Collector appointed under section 8 of the Code, if the amount of compensation does not exceed ten thousand rupees, or
(b) the State Government, if the amount of compensation exceeds ten thousand rupees.
(3) No such award of compensation in excess of ten thousand rupees shall be made by an officer who is also a Collector under se
An appeal shall lie against an award of the Collector to the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal constituted under the Bombay Revenue Tribunal Act, 1957 (Bom. XXXI of 1958), notwithstanding anything contained in the said Act.
(1) The Gujarat Revenue Tribunal shall, after giving notice to the appellant and the respondent, decide the appeal and record its decision.
(2) In deciding an appeal under this Act, the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal shall exercise all the powers which a court has and shall follow the same procedure which a court follows in deciding appeals from the decree or order of an original court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (V of 1908).
Every appeal made under this Act to the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal shall be filed within a period of sixty days from the date of the award of the Collector. The provisions of sections 4, 5, 12 and 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 (30 of 1963) shall apply to the filing of such appeal.
Notwithstanding anything contained in the Bombay Court fees Act, 1959 (Bom. XXXVI of 1959), every appeal made under this Act to the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal shall bear a court-fee stamp of such value as may be prescribed.
(1) Subject to an appeal to the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal the award made by the Collector and the decision of the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal in appeal shall be final and conclusive and shall not be questioned in any suit or proceeding in any court.
(2) Any clerical or arithmetical mistake in an award or any error arising therein from any accidental slip or omission may, at any time not later than three years from the date of the award, be corrected by the authority which made the award, either of its own motion or on the application of any of the parties, after giving the parties concerned an opportunity of showing cause why the mistake or error should not be corrected:
Provided that, where an appeal is pending against the award sought to be corrected, the power conferred by this section shall not be exercised until the disposal of such app
(1) Where the amount of compensation has been determined under section 10 or 11 and if any dispute arises as to the persons to whom the same or any part thereof is payable or as to the apportionment of the same or any part thereof, the Collector shall, after holding a summary inquiry in the manner provided in the Code, decide the same.
(2) Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Collector under sub-section (1) may file an appeal to the State Government within thirty days from the date of such decision.
(3) The decision of the Collector subject to an appeal to the State Government under sub-section (2) and the decision of the State Government under sub-section (2) shall be final and conclusive and shall not be questioned in any suit or proceeding in any court.
(4) If the dispute referred to
(1) Where after the 18th March 1968 but before the appointed day, the inamdar, the inferior holder or the authorised holder has taken any action or done anything in relation to Devasthan land so as to affect the rights of the tenant in respect of such land or to evict the tenant from such land, then, notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, such action or thing shall, unless it is proved to the contrary, be deemed to have been taken or done in anticipation in order to defeat the object of this Act or the tenancy law.
(2) The inamdar, the inferior holder or the authorised holder affected by the provisions of sub-section (1) may, within the prescribed period and in the prescribed form, make an application to the Collector for a declaration that the action or thing was not taken or done in anticipation in order to defeat the object of this Act or the
No Civil Court shall have jurisdiction to settle, decide or deal with any question which is by or under this Act required to be settled. decided or dealt with, by the officer authorised under the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 4 or section 25 or the Collector, the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal in appeal, or the State Government in appeal or revision or in exercise of their powers of control.
All inquiries and proceedings before the officer authorised under the proviso to sub-section (1) of section 4, or section 25 or the Collector, the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal and the State Government under this Act shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of sections 193, 219 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code (XLV of 1860).
(1) Wherever an officer authorised by the State Government in this behalf so directs, an inamdar shall deliver to him or such other officer as may be specified by him the records maintained by the inamdar relating to the Devasthan land.
(2) If the inamdar fails without reasonable cause to deliver any such records, he shall, on conviction, be punished with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees. In the case of a continuing failure to deliver any such records the inamdar shall be punished with an additional fine which may extend to twenty five rupees for every day during which such failure continues after conviction for the first failure.
Nothing in this Act shall in any way be deemed to affect the application of any' of the provisions of the tenancy law or of the Gujarat Agricultural Lands Ceiling Act, 1960 (Guj. XXVII of 1961), to any Devasthan land or the rights and obligations of a landlord and his tenants save in so far as the said provisions are in any way inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act.
Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to affect the operation of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 (Bom. XXIX of 1950) in respect of any land held by an inamdar under the provisions of this Act or of any right or liability in respect of such land of any person in charge of such religious or charitable institution or having the management therefore merely by reason of the conversion of such land as an unalienated land and application thereto of the provisions of the Code and the rules made thereunder.
The State Government may, subject to such restrictions and conditions as it may impose, by notification in the Official Gazette, delegate to any of its officers not below the rank of a Collector under the Code, all or any of the powers conferred on it by this Act.
No suit or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done by him under this Act.
All sums due to Government or recoverable by Government under this Act shall be recoverable as arrears of land revenue.
The officers exercising powers and performing functions under this Act shall be deemed to be revenue officers and shall have and exercise as far as may be, the like authority and control as the revenue officers have and exercise under the Code, and in all matters connected with this Act. the State Government shall also have the same authority and control over the officers acting under this Act as they have and exercise over them in general and revenue administration.
(1) The State Government may, subject to the condition of previous publication, make rules for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this Act. Such rules shall, when finally made, be published in the Official Gazette.
(2) All rules made under this section shall be laid for not less than thirty days before the State Legislature as soon as possible after they are made and shall he subject to rescission by the Legislature, or to such modification as the Legislature may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session immediately following.
(3) Any rescission or modification so made by the State Legislature shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall thereupon take effect.
Nothing contained in this Act shall affect any obligation or liability already incurred under an incident of a Devasthan inam before the appointed day or any proceeding or remedy in respect of such obligation or liability, and any such proceeding may be continued and remedy enforced as if this Act had not been passed.
The enactments specified in column 1 of the Schedule shall be amended to the extent specified in column 2 thereof.
Schedule - SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE
(See section 31)
Enactments amended
Enactments 1 Extent of amendment 2
The Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 (Bom.LXVII of 1948). (1) In section 88B, in clause (b) of sub-section (1) for the words "Gaushala or an institutionfor public religious worship" the words "or Gaushala" shall be substituted.(2) After section 88D the following section shall be inserted, namely:—
Cessor of exemption in respect of certain pub
The Gujarat Devasthan Inam Abolition Act, 1969 was enacted to abolish inams held by religious or charitable institutions in the Bombay area of Gujarat. This legislation aimed to address historical injustices and facilitate agrarian reform by redistributing land and rights associated with inams.
Section 31 of the Act provides for the amendment of certain enactments to align them with the provisions of the Gujarat Devasthan Inam Abolition Act. It specifies that the amendments will be made to the extent mentioned in the schedule of the Act.
The scope of Section 31 is limited to the amendments of existing laws that are inconsistent with the provisions of the Gujarat Devasthan Inam Abolition Act. It serves to streamline legal frameworks in light of the abolition of inams.
While Section 31 itself does not prescribe specific punishments, it is part of a broader legislative framework that may include penalties for non-compliance with the Act's provisions.
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