– People-oriented guidance: H.S. Patel IAS (Retd.)
– Clarification of Revenue Department under Saurashtra Aghat Rights and Monopoly Abolition Act 18
Continued from last …
Through the people oriented column, the revenue department has clarified to the readers about the different types of power and different laws to abolish those types of powers. Considering the difficulties faced by the people regarding the interpretation and the difficulties faced by the people, under which the Saurashtra area, which was a separate state from Saurashtra at that time, was merged with the Saurashtra area. During my tenure as Provincial Revenue Officer, Palanpur and Surat, as well as during my tenure as Collector Rajkot, I noticed that in the Gujarat area of Mumbai State and in the newly formed post-independence Saurashtra State, the laws relating to land revenue and land reform in particular were different. In the Gujarat area of Mumbai state, Mumbai Agricultural Land Computation Act-19, Agricultural Land Ceiling Act was applicable, while Saurashtra and Kutch were B and C category states up to 12 respectively. And the Estate Acquisition Act was in effect and still is today. While Kutch Vidarbha law is in force in Kutch. The credit for enacting and enforcing the progressive land reform laws of Saurashtra goes to the then Chief Minister Uchhangrai Dhebar and being aware of his wonderful resourcefulness and land rights, Saurashtra had 3 kingdoms and despite social, economic status, contrary to At that time Saurashtra’s land reform laws were noticed all over the country because there were no discrepancies in the interpretation of the law, very simple (Simplified) and due process in the Gujarat region and the process of resolving it. It is necessary to give this preface to the readers because even though Saurashtra is now a part of Gujarat – it merged with Mumbai State in 19th and then Gujarat State was formed in 190 but even today the laws enacted in Saurashtra area and Kutch are still in force. Only the Land Revenue Act applies equally.
Now if we discuss the topic of aghat tenor and abolition of monopoly prevailing in Saurashtra region, many common people consider ‘aghat’ which is the term of the revenue system. For those who do not understand, ‘Aghat’ means land without any kind of government restrictions and especially new and indivisible or restricted land in which land can be transferred / sold without the permission of the Collector is referred to as ‘Aghat’ land and That is why the government has given land in the implementation of the laws of Saurashtra as per the previous role given above that there is no control over the lands given to any occupier except farm land ceiling, Bhudan, so all other lands are aghat i.e. old condition i.e. Mumbai aghat tenor and Most of the lands in the Monopoly Abolition Act are considered as old condition and according to section 3 of Act 12, if the occupant is in possession then the rights of such occupant will be considered as old condition. He will assume the old condition and if such land is in the possession of Ganotiya and the Ganotiya will pay 15 times the possession value of the rent paid or payable for the previous 1 year immediately before the appointed day. Possession obtained by paying the aghat holder will be considered as old condition and if such fixed amount is not recovered in one year, the calculation will be considered as unauthorized possession of government land and will be removed from the land summarily evicted. Thus, as shown above, all the lands under aghat tenor will be considered as old condition.
In the same way, in the matter of possession of monopoly lands, as per section 3, the monopoly lands of the monopolist holding in house farming will be considered as old condition. If such lands are in the possession of Ganotiya, the land will be considered as old condition by paying six times the amount of possession to the monopolist. In the same way, in other cases also, the rights obtained by paying the monopolist at the rate of 3 times the size will be considered as old condition. If there is a Ganotiyo in the leased land, he has to repay the amount of possession to the Collector as a deposit within one year and if he does not repay, the land revenue is to be recovered as arrears and if unauthorized possession of such land continues, Ganotiyo has to be removed .
As per Section 3 of this Act, the provisions of the Land Revenue Act are applicable except for the conditions on which the land has been given in the land other than the right of monopoly and aghat and the land disposed of under it is to be treated as a new and indivisible condition. Apart from this, if there is a mistake in showing the exact condition in 7/12 of the land, the collector has to take action after checking the original land revenue record notes as well as other matters.
In addition, according to this abolition law, if any cases are pending or in case of purposeful return of such land, action has to be taken as per the specification given in the resolution of the revenue department dated 6-9-207. As seen under this Act to a large extent, the lands under aghat or monopoly are to be considered as old condition, so it is necessary for the revenue officials to interpret them in the right perspective.