Land transfer not allowed: Gujarat High Court

In a major development, Justice MR Shah of the Gujarat high court on Tuesday has ordered the Gir forest and revenue authorities to furnish details about the original allotees and transferees of the rehabilitation land in the Gir forest area. The court has also ordered the district collector of Junagadh and the mamlatdar of Mendarada taluka over the issue regarding the rehabilitation land allotted to the Maldharis of the Gir sanctuary.  Further, advocate Amit Panchal has been appointed amicus curiae for the case.

The court’s order follows a petition filed by one Anil Chudasama who had purchased land situated in the Gir sanctuary from the ancestors of Raja Ramara Rabari, a Maldhari family, who was allotted land under the rehabilitation scheme as per the provisions of the Indian forest act and Wildlife protection act. The case will come up for further hearing on June 4.

According to case details, the land was initially given to Raja Rabari as new tenure land, which meant that Rabari was restricted from transferring his land. Subsequently Rabari submitted an application before the mamlatdar of Mendarada for converting the land from new tenure to old tenure.

Without understanding and appreciating the repercussion and likelihood of breach of provisions of Indian forest act and wildlife protection act and other similar acts, the mamlatdar passed an order to convert the land from new tenure to old tenure on payment of premium amount. Consequently the condition, of not transferring the land, was deleted.

On behalf of Chudasama, his lawyer VM Trivedi argued in court that since Chudasama had purchased the plot, he is thereby the owner of the land and should be permitted to use  it in a manner in which he deems fit. “Forest authorities and others cannot obstruct him from using the land in question,” Trivedi further claimed, adding, “There are other 400 similar cases where there is transfer in favour of non-tribal people as well as people not belonging to the Maldhari tribe. Some of them are even industrialists and political leaders and even some may have also constructed hotels, which, is not permissible.”
Trivedi accused the court of harassing Chudasama, who is poor, and not even “touching” the rich and influential class.

While delivering the order justice Shah observed that “prima-facie it appears that all the transactions are in favour of the petitioner (Chudasama) and all those similarly situated can be said to be illegal and they are nullity”.

Shah further said that there cannot be any transfer in favour of non-tribal people and non-Maldharis, as it would be contravening provisions of Indian Forest Act and Wildlife Protection Act. By permitting the aforesaid transfer, anybody can purchase the land situated or located within the sanctuary and reserved forest area by making a payment and use it, which is not permissible, the judge said.

The court further stated that it should be remembered that original allotment of these lands was done only for the purpose of rehabilitating the Maldharis. Again, even if restriction of transfer is deleted, then too, looking at the purpose for which the land was allotted, transfer can be permissible in favour of similarly situated i.e., person belonging to the Maldhari community. “But there cannot be any transfer in favour of a non-Maldhari defeating the object and purpose of allotment,” the court said.

In an affidavit, the forest department submitted in the hearing that land was allotted to more than 400 Maldharis during the Gir-Maldhari resettlement programme implemented between 1975 to 1985. Tenure of many of those lands was converted and the land was sold off. “But if the Maldhari stays away from the sanctuary, then the forest department has no reason to oppose transaction of such land,” the dept said.

However, the mamlatdar of Mendarada has said that proceedings for 12 other similarly situated cases have already been started, while proceedings will be initiated for all other cases too.