Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879

The appellant, a former District Collector, was charged under Sections 409, 219 and 114 of the IPC for allegedly misusing his official position to restore government land to private allottees who were not cultivating it and were residing abroad. The High Court dismissed his application under Section 482 CrPC to quash t…

The appellants challenged the constitutionality of Section 43 of the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 and the 2008 Gujarat Government Resolution that imposed a premium (initially 80%, later reduced to 40%) on the transfer of agricultural land for non‑agricultural purposes, arguing it violated Article 30…

The appellants purchased about 7 acres of agricultural land in Moria village, Gujarat, without obtaining the prior permission required under Section 63 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948. The Mamlatdar initiated ejectment proceedings, and the Gujarat High Court dismissed the appellants' special civi…

The appellants, successors of Girasdars and Barkhalidars, challenged the constitutional validity of the Gujarat Amendment to the Bombay Land Revenue Code, which vested all mines, minerals and quarries in the State and provided compensation based on the average of three years' net income. They argued that the amendment …

Palitana Sugar Mills Pvt. Ltd. filed a contempt petition against the State Government of Gujarat and its officers for refusing to implement the Supreme Court's 15 October 2004 order granting non‑agricultural (residential) permission over certain government lands. The petitioners alleged that the respondents deliberatel…

The appellant owned land on the banks of the Tapti River that the State of Gujarat sought to acquire under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for extending the village of Bhairav to house twelve families displaced by floods. After objections were filed, a preliminary notification under s.4 and a final acquisition order und…

The petitioners, former proprietary jagirdars of Idar State, claimed that after the Bombay Merged Territories and Areas (Jagirs Abolition) Act, 1953 they became occupants of their lands and were therefore entitled to the forest trees standing there. The High Court had held that, because no survey settlement under the B…

The plaintiffs, permanent Mirasi tenants, mortgaged their half‑share of Paragana Watan lands to the defendants in 1947. After the Bombay Paragana and Kulkarni Watans (Abolition) Act, 1950 abolished the watans, the defendants (or their heirs) paid the occupancy price and obtained a grant of the entire land from the Pran…

The case concerned a suit land that was a Paragana watan property leased to a permanent Mirashi tenant, Ramchandra, who mortgaged the land in 1947. The Bombay Paragana and Kulkarni Watans (Abolition) Act, 1950 later resumed the land to the Government, but the tenant's lease subsisted under the proviso to Section 3(3) a…

The case concerned agricultural land in Surat district that was held by Samubhai Budhiabhai, a tenant who became a deemed purchaser under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948. Samubhai executed a will bequeathing the land to Vinodchandra Kapadia, who was not an agriculturist. The State challenged the dis…

The Union of India claimed ownership of land that had been sold at public auction to Mis. Mundra Salt & Chemical Industries and later acquired by the State of Maharashtra for a highway. The Union relied on Section 37 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879, which presumes Crown ownership where title is not established. T…

The case concerned agricultural Watan lands in Maharashtra held by the heirs of the original Watandar after his death in 1958. The appellants sought possession of the lands under sections 5, 11 and 11A of the Maharashtra Hereditary Offices Act, 1874, arguing that the tenancy created by the tenants had terminated. The r…

Ismailbhai I. Kansara, an encroacher, occupied an evacuee land parcel in Gujarat since 1976 and was served an eviction notice under Section 19(2)(b) of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954. He filed a writ petition challenging the eviction, but the High Court and the Division Bench dismisse…

The respondents filed a partition suit involving land assessed for revenue. The trial court, invoking Section 54 of the Code of Civil Procedure, referred the partition to the Collector, who issued an order. The Collector's order was challenged before the Deputy Secretary under Section 211 of the Bombay Land Revenue Cod…

The case concerned vast hilly tracts of land that produced natural grass and were formerly part of taluqdar and inamdar estates. After the Bombay Taluqdari Tenure Abolition Act, 1949 and the Bombay Personal Inams Abolition Act, 1952 came into force, the State of Gujarat claimed that these lands were "waste" or "unculti…

The case concerned the validity of a Gujarat Government Resolution dated 28 December 1966 that discontinued public auctions for bhatha lands and instead allocated lease‑hold rights preferentially to bona‑fide agriculturists, Harijans, Adivasis, backward classes and cooperative societies. Petitioners claimed they were u…

The State of Gujarat challenged the validity of the proviso to Rule 81(2) of the Gujarat Land Revenue Rules, 1972 (as amended 1977), which imposed double land‑revenue rates on lands in urban agglomerations covered by the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976, if the land was not put to the non‑agricultural use …

Vijay Mills Co. Ltd. owned about 2 lakh sq. m. of non‑agricultural land in Ahmedabad that was assessed at 2 paise per sq. m. under the Gujarat Land Revenue Rules, 1972. The State Government drafted rules in July 1976 to raise the rate, withdrew the notification, invited objections, and finally issued the 1977 Rules in …

Nagesh Bisto Desai, the son of the last Desai, claimed that the Kundgol Deshgat Estate was an impartible watan governed by the rule of lineal primogeniture, and that, as the present watandar, he was entitled to exclusive possession of the estate. The respondents, members of the same joint Hindu family, contended that t…

The plaintiff, a religious institution holding the inam village of Orma, sued the State of Gujarat in a civil suit claiming that the land was a devasthan (religious) inam and therefore exempt from the abolition provisions of the Bombay Personal Inams Abolition Act, 1952. The State contended that the land was a personal…