Rama S/o Gunda Malkapure v. The State of Maharashtra held -Property Rights Cannot be Taken Away on Technical Grounds of Delay

Jojy George Koduvath

Legal Findings in a Nutshell

  • Erroneous revenue entries that led to a reduction in area will not defeat the rights of the landowners, under Article 300-A of the Constitution of India.
  • The revenue authorities, being custodians of the record, are required to explain how such reduction occurred. The petitioner cannot be blamed for incorrect entries maintained by the authorities.
  • A legal-constitutional right cannot be taken away on technical grounds of delay when the fault lies with the authorities.
  • There will be no specific period of limitation for seeking corrections to such wrong entries. (The failure of authorities to issue statutory notices often prevents landowners from discovering errors in real-time.)
  • Article 300A declares – ‘No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law’.

Rama S/o Gunda Malkapure v. The State of Maharashtra

The Bombay High Court (Siddheshwar S. Thombre, J.), Aurangabad Bench, in Rama S/o Gunda Malkapure v. The State of Maharashtra, 2026:BHC-AUG:20436, quashed and set aside the Order of the Minister upholding the property rights of the landowners, under Article 300A of the Constitution.

Case of the Petitioner in a Nutshell

  • The petitioner purchased certain agricultural land under a registered sale deed in 1982.
  • The petitioner had to approach a Civil Court, Regular Civil Suit No.300 of 1996, to get his title to the suit property declared on the basis of the registered sale deed, and the said decree had attained finality.
  • However, after implementation of the consolidation scheme, the land area shown in his name was allegedly reduced from 82R to 28R in the revenue records..
  • Despite his clear title and possession, the subsequent implementation of a consolidation scheme, his land area was erroneously recorded in the revenue records. The land area shown in his name was reduced from 82R to 28R.
  • There was a failure to follow the procedure under Section 15A(1) of the Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947, which requires notice to landowners.
  • Pursuant to the application filed by the petitioner, the Superintendent of Land Records conducted an enquiry and, after considering actual possession, forwarded the draft scheme to the Deputy Director of Land Records for correction under Section 32(1) of the Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947.
  • Thereafter, the draft scheme was published, and after considering the objections raised by respondent Nos. 4 to 6, an order dated 09.03.2016 was passed.
  • Section 16 of The Consolidation of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act provides for compensation.
  • The scheme prepared by the Consolidation Officer shall provide for the payment of compensation to any owner who is allotted a holding of less market value than that of his original holding and for the recovery of compensation from any owner who is allotted a holding of greater market value than that of his original holding. But No Compensation is paid to the petitioner.
  • Any person loosing land i.e. gets a land of lesser value has to be compensated for loss of land and any person entitled to receive the land of higher value has to deposit the compensation.
  • Against the said order dated 09.03.2016, respondent Nos. 4 to 6 preferred a revision.
  • The learned Minister allowed the revision by (erroneously) observing that in Regular Civil Suit No.47/2002, the registered sale deed executed in favour of the petitioner was set aside by judgment dated 21.12.2005.
  • The petitioner submitted that the Order of the learned Minister is liable to be set aside.
  • The respondents argued that the correction request of the petitioner was delayed and that an earlier application had already been rejected. It is also urged that consolidation schemes cannot ordinarily be altered after several years.

Right To Property Under Article 300A

The High Court pointed out as under:

  • “17. Merely because the consolidation scheme was implemented earlier, the petitioner cannot be deprived of his property, particularly when the reduction in area occurred due to incorrect revenue entries. The right to property under Article 300-A of the Constitution of India cannot be defeated on the basis of erroneous entries. The right to property under Article 300-A of the Constitution of India cannot be defeated on the basis of erroneous entries. The right to property under Article 300-A of the Constitution reads as under:-
  • CHAPTER IV.–RIGHT TO PROPERTY 300A. Persons not to be deprived of property save by authority of law. –
    • “No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law.”

No Limitation for Seeking Corrections To Revenue Entries

The Court pointed out that no specific period of limitation is stated either in the Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and in the Consolidation of Holdings Act, 1947 or in the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966. Therefore not bars for an an owner for seeking corrections to such entries. It was also found that the failure of authorities to issue statutory notices often prevents landowners from discovering errors in real-time.

Issue of Delay: Remedy Cannot be Taken Away on Technical Ground

  • “43. So far as the issue of delay is concerned, the scheme of the Act is silent on it. It can be said that the Act does not provide limitation for objecting to the scheme or raising a dispute against reduction of holding of a land owner. Being a legal-constitutional right of land owner, his remedy to correct the record cannot be taken away on technical ground of delay.
  • As the records transpire that notice under Section 15A(1) of the Act were not issued to the land owners, it can be said that the land owners were not aware of reduction in their respective holding. Therefore, once the reduction was noticed and complained of by the land owners, it is incumbent upon the authorities to correct the same without going into the issue of delay, as the fault is on the authorities due to failure to issue notice. The record was prepared behind their back.”

S. 16 provides for Compensation. But No Compensation Paid

  •  “49. There is no dispute with respect to the fact that the agriculturists are aggrieved by the record created after enforcement of scheme. The consent as required under Section 15A of the Act was never obtained and no compensation was paid to the agriculturists whose holding has been reduced. It is not even the case that the agriculturists whose holding was increased were paid compensation. The procedure prescribed for recovery of compensation was not initiated. Section 16 provides for compensation. The agriculturist who is allotted holding of less market value than that of his original holding has to be paid compensation. Whereas, the land owner who is allotted holding of greater market value than that of his original holding has to pay compensation”.

Order of the Minister is Quashed and Set Aside

Finally, the Order of the Minister is quashed and set aside, stating as under:

  • “51. In the present case, the learned Minister has set aside the orders passed by the revenue authorities by observing that the sale deed executed in favour of the petitioner was set aside in Regular Civil Suit No.47/2002. However, the record indicates that no such finding was recorded setting aside the petitioner’s sale deed. On the contrary, the petitioner’s title has already been declared by the competent Civil Court. Therefore, the findings recorded by the learned Minister are perverse and unsustainable.”

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