Gujarat High Court Issues Guidelines For Inquiries Under Land Grabbing Prohibition Act

The Gujarat High Court has issued guidelines for compliance by the Committee in the matter of inquiry under the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2020 and the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Rules, 2020.

The Court was considering a petition filed by a 65-year-old tenant seeking quashing of an FIR registered him in a matter of land grabbing.

The division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi observed, "Taking note of turn of events in the present case and the sufferance caused to the petitioner, we find it fit and proper in the interest of justice to frame guidelines for compliance by the Committee in the matter of inquiry under the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2020 and the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Rules, 2020 framed thereunder."

The Applicant was represented by Advocate Megha Jani while the Respondent was represented by Advocate Vivek V Bhamare.

The petitioner had challenged the vires of the Land Grabbing Act and Rules 2020, as ultra vires to the Constitution of India specifically Article 14 (Right to Equality), Article 20 (Right against Self-Incrimination) and Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty).

The Court has directed the competent authority of the State to notify the guidelines so that there shall be no recurrence of such incident which has occurred in the present case. 

The guidelines are as follows:

(1) Each District Committee shall have a Secretariat. The appointment for which shall be made as soon as possible.

(2) The Committee may issue a notice to the parties before taking final decision, if it thinks fit in a given case.

(3) The decision of the Committee shall be communicated to the parties.

(4) The Inquiry Officer while conducting the inquiry as per subrule (5) of Rule 5 of the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Rules, 2020 shall take into consideration all the documents filed by the parties during the course of inquiry including the revenue records for submission of the inquiry report.

(5) The Coram of the Committee should be as per Notification dated 16.12.2020 as applicable as on date.

(6) The Coram of the Committee as mentioned in the Notification dated 16.12.2020 would only be comprised of the officers who are members constituting the committee as per the said notification.

Cause Title: Ashwinbhai vs. State of Gujarat & Ors.

Appearances:

Applicant- Advocate Megha Jani 

Respondents- Advocate General Mitesh Amin with Assitant Advocate General, Advocate Vivek V Bhamare, Advocate VN Bhamare 

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