Legal Provisions of Agricultural Lands held by Panjarapol, Universities and other Trusts/Institutions

- Lokabhimukha Guidance - H.S. Patel IAS (Retd.)

- Section-88 of Maths Act and Section (3) of Ceiling Act required to be followed for cages and other institutions.

During the British rule, the British first got the right to levy the Diwani Hakka, i.e. the revenue right on the land of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa province, and it is considered the foundation of the Indian land revenue system and on that basis the Survey & Settlement of the lands was done. Present-day Gujarat was known as Bombay Province under British rule and the Bombay Land Revenue Act 1879 was enacted for land administration and is still in force today. The Land Revenue Act is primarily an ordinance of the Government to levy and regulate land revenue. At one point the most popular permission among the people today is the NA permission under Section-65 for non-cultivation. It is also a system for determining the non-agricultural nature (revenue) and collecting the non-agricultural tax on that basis. It is included in the schedule of the constitution to give the rights over the land to the occupiers and to distribute the property on an equitable basis and to bring land reforms with legal backing as part of establishing the welfare state.

The Bombay Land Tenancy and Agriculture Land Act-1948 was enacted as a part of the Bombay Province and existing land reforms, thus this Act was for the assessment and regulation of agricultural land. The basic element of this Act was to give permanent possession rights to the farmers/growers over the land on the principle of "Khede tei Zamini" for productive use of the agricultural land. Thus the Saurashtra State which existed till 1956 had the Saurashtra Land Reforms and the Kutch Vidarbha Act in Kutch and is still in force today. And it has Saurashtra Gharkhed Ordinance-1949, Saurashtra Barkhali Abolition Act, Estate Abolition Act in force. As stated. The provisions of the Agricultural Land Enumeration Act are for the regulation of agricultural land. So till 1999 even farmers were holding land within the limit of 8 km under section 2(2) and 2(6) of the Agricultural Land Counting Act. In 1999, the government under Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel deleted these clauses, now a farmer of native Gujarat can own agricultural land anywhere in the state within the maximum limit of agricultural land.

But the important provision in the Act is that the definition of ``farmer'' is given in Article-63 and under this provision no non-agricultural person can hold agricultural land except the farmer-holder and if he wants to get the status of farmer, the permission of the Collector has to be obtained under Article-63. is and apart from that holding agricultural land is not legal. This provision is applicable from the coming into force of the 1948 Act. Recently, on the basis of the report by the investigating officer that irregularities have been committed by the Collector of Gandhinagar regarding the transfer of Panjarapol land of Mulasana village of Kalol taluka and the issue of non-cultivation permission, the wide readers have brought before me how Panjarapol and organizations can acquire agricultural land and that The provisions mentioned above make it clear that no non-agricultural person or organization can occupy agricultural land without the permission of the Collector. Now I am submitting for information about how panjrapol or trusts, educational institutions can take over agricultural lands, how to get exemption and what action should be taken if the provisions are violated. First of all, the Act prohibits the acquisition of agricultural land except by farmers and in addition the Act and the Gujarat Agricultural Land Ceiling Act-1960 prohibit the acquisition of agricultural land beyond a certain limit. should not be done in

The provisions of Article 88 (a) to 88 (f) of the Act relate to agricultural land held for public purposes, lands under Bhudan, Panjrapol, Gowshala, university, educational institutions, agriculture, university, government and the departments of that occupation, statutory bodies. Lands are exempted from Section-63 of the Act. In all these cases except the Government, Panjarapol, Trusts, all institutions require exemption of Mamlatdar and Krishi Panch and Collector to hold agricultural land. And this control applies to the lease-land lands and if they are counted on agricultural lands held by trusts, they are also exempted from being counted as gnotiyas, i.e. there is a restriction that the cages or trust lands are exempted from being counted. Thus, the exemption was canceled on the land held in 1918 on the agricultural land of Mulasana village of Kalol taluk of Gandhinagar district. After about three generations the Ganotiyas were enfranchised and converted to non-cultivation after status sale transactions, primarily Panjarapol, lands held by trusts are regulated under the Trusts Act 1950 and must be entered in their property register and the Trusts Act. The approval of the Charity Commissioner, if any, should be obtained for the exemption under s. Under the provisions of Article 88 of the Constitution, if the agricultural exemption has been revoked, on what grounds these lands were exempted for profit.