The Gujarat Revenue Tribunal has ruled that 511 acres of land in Naviyani village, located in Dasada taluka of Surendranagar district, is privately owned—reversing its previous classification as government land.
This land lies next to Hansalpur village in Ahmedabad district’s Mandal taluka, which hosts the Gujarat plant of auto manufacturer Maruti Suzuki in the Mandal-Becharaji Special Investment Region (SIR).
According to reports, the decision was delivered by tribunal members B.A. Dave and P.S. Kala, who upheld the ownership claims of 15 applicants. They asserted the land was ‘Girasdar’ property under the erstwhile Vanod State. Girasdars were hereditary landholders, often granted rights by former princely states.
Led by Mayoddin alias Maiyuddin Talebalikhansahib and his co-heirs, the applicants had initially approached the Patdi mamlatdar to assert ancestral ownership of the land, specifically part of survey number 403. After their claim was dismissed in June 2023, they appealed to the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal.
Reports further mentioned that records presented in the case showed that the applicants’ forebear, Ameer Saheb Khansahib, held title to 511 acres of Girasdar land in Naviyani village as a shareholder of Vanod State. These rights reportedly predated 1882. The land was mortgaged for Rs 5,000 on June 19, 1887, through a registered deed, and was released from the mortgage via two separate documents on January 21, 1992. Additional documents were submitted to support the claim that the land remained private.
The tribunal reviewed the mamlatdar’s rejection and concluded: “Upon examining the legal provisions and verifying the records, it is evident that the land was not govt property prior to the enactment of the Inam Abolition Act. No compensation appears to have been paid for it. If the govt did acquire the land, clarification from another source is necessary—but such clarification is absent.”
It added: “Conversely, the applicants’ heirs were Girasdars—and the land listed under entry number 142 was privately owned. This fact is clear, uncontested, and acknowledged. Entry number 142 has not been challenged, and the govt has failed to disprove the applicants’ evidence.”
Survey number 403 covers 1,798.06 acres in total and is classified as Kharaba, or non-cultivable, land. The applicants sought formal recognition of 511.13 acres within it as private property.
Most Girasdar lands were taken over by the government after 1952, when the Inam Abolition Act was implemented in the post-Independence Bombay State. However, there is no record available showing that the land in question was ever vested in the government.
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