Guj.Direction to issue farmer certificate by High Court if the land is converted to non-cultivation

- All of the farmers

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

- Resolution of agricultural land-necessary to apply to non-cultivators arising out of non-cultivation as well

In Gujarat, a legal farmer cannot buy agricultural land unless he has the status of a tenant. In this regard, there is a control under Article-63 of the Act that no person can own agricultural land without the permission of the Collector and in this regard the definition of caste farming has been given in Article 2(2) of the Act. The Agricultural Land Act was enacted in 1948 and is in force under the Land Reform Acts after independence, while the Land Revenue Act-1879 has rules for land revenue and Record of Rights for maintaining the rights of agricultural tenants over land/property, thus the status of agricultural tenants is regulated under the provisions of the Act. happens Mostly as per the government guidelines for verifying the status of Khedut Ukhdar since 1951 i.e. since the promulgation (validation) of revenue records in Gujarat and the lands allotted to the Ganotias under the Ganotdhara, the agricultural lands allocated by the government under the Santhani or Ceiling Act and the traditional native cultivators. And the holders of lands held by their legal inheritance are considered legal cultivators. The process of development has drastically changed the use of agricultural lands and due to public purpose, infrastructural facilities, urbanization, industrialization the size of agricultural lands is decreasing.

From this perspective, if a farmer of Gujarat owns agricultural land and becomes uncultivated by selling his land, then the Revenue Department will issue a resolution dated 1 June 2020, 22 January 2002, 24 January 2003, 1 July 2009 and 31 March 2020 to the owner of his entire agricultural land. After selling the land, there were suggestions to buy the land within the time limit, when we were the Collector of Rajkot, a resolution was submitted to the Revenue Department on 1 July 2009, which had a provision to purchase within 180 days, a farmer-oriented decision was taken based on the proposal to extend it and give the farmer certificate, and accordingly, when the farmer concerned If the entire land is sold and becomes uncultivated, besides certifying the note, a suo-moto farmer certificate is to be issued without the application of the owner and the owner has to purchase the agricultural land within a time limit of 2 years and thus the status of farmer can be maintained. IDPs of Narmada scheme in Gujarat who have been allotted land in Gujarat due to acquisition or submergence of their land or resettlement are also given the status of Khedut Vahaddar similarly to farmers affected (eg Ukai, Kadana) due to large dams by the Government Irrigation Department. They are also given the status of peasants and those who were allotted land as a special case in Kutch after the Indo-Pakistani war in 1965, the original allottees and their legal heirs are also considered peasant tenants.

The said basic matter which was decided by the revenue department on July 1, 2009, a provision has been made to maintain the status of a farmer if he becomes a non-farmer after selling the agricultural land. But if all the land of the tenant or the land of his right is converted into uncultivated land and it becomes uncultivable, then due to the interpretation of the said Government Resolutions as not applicable, the lands of cultivators of village Bhoradu and Pangia of Banaskantha district Tharad / Dhanera taluk have been sold to the Deputy Collector of Tharad of the concerned area. As the farmer sought a certificate, his land was turned into non-cultivation, according to the revenue department of the government. dated July 1, 2009 and other circulars applicable only to agricultural land were not issued cultivator certificate and informed that the provisions of the said circular of the Govt. are not applicable to you.

Aggrieved by the decision of the Deputy Collector, Tharad, the concerned party Sai Husenshah Rahimshah filed SCA No.-13227/2023 in the Gujarat High Court dated 20-9-2023 Justice Niral R. Mehta gave an important judgment and said that when the government gives a farmer certificate to any farmer owner who sells all his land and becomes non-farmer, if any farmer owner also becomes non-farmer by converting his land to non-farmer, then there are guidelines to give farmer certificate within three months. . In this important judgment the Hon'ble Court in earlier Bawaji Kanpuri Balapuri P/J State of Gujarat S.C.A. No.-19629/2017 dt. The judgment of 18 April 2018 has given the judgment of Tank Area Purvak. There are likely to be many such cases in Gujarat and most of the ignorant cultivators will not know that if all their land is converted into non-cultivation, the status of the cultivator is lost.

The revenue department of the government has made provision for issuing farmer certificate by the resolution of 1 July 2009 and other circulars when the agricultural lands become (completely) uncultivated by sale. According to the judgment of the Gujarat High Court, the provisions that have been made for maintaining the status of farmer for the agricultural lands are the same. Even when all the lands are converted to non-cultivation, a resolution based on the said judgment of the Gujarat High Court is required to be implemented by the revenue department of the government.

And for that, the necessary amending resolution should be issued to preserve the right of the real farmers to hold agricultural land so that uniformity is maintained in this regard throughout the state, again clarifying that as decided in the Supreme Court's Vinod Chandra Kapadia's Gabheni Surat case, the status of a non-agricultural person is a farmer's tenant based on a will. Does not receive legal.