The Gujarat Patel Watans Abolition Act, 1961

Short title, extent and commencement. —

1. (1) This Act may be called the Gujarat Patel Watans Abolition Act, 1961.
2. (2) It extends to

Definitions.

1. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
   • (a) "Commutation Settlement" means a settlement made or deemed to be made under the existing Watan law whereby the right to commute, in whole or in part, the service due by a Watandar in respect of a Patel Watan was settled, whether such settlement was made in the form of an agreement or otherwise, or has been confirmed or not, and includes any order relating to the commutation of service;
   • (b) "existing Watan law" means the law relating to Patel Watans in force in any part of the State immediately before the commencement of this Act;
   • (c) "Hereditary Patelship" means the right to the office of Patel, which is hereditary and includes the right to perform the duties of the office and to receive the emoluments thereof;
   • (d) "Matadar" means a person who is entered in the register of Matadars maintained under the existing Watan law as a person entitled to officiate as a Patel or to a share in the emoluments of a Patel Watan;
   • (e) "Matadar family" means a family descended from a common ancestor who was a Matadar;
   • (f) "Patel Watan" means the Watan in respect of the hereditary office of a Patel and includes the lands, if any, assigned or granted for the remuneration of such office;
   • (g) "Tenancy law" means—
     • (i) in the Bombay area of the State of Gujarat, the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948;
     • (ii) in the Kutch area of the State of Gujarat, the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region and Kutch Area) Act, 1958; and
     • (iii) in the Saurashtra area of the State of Gujarat, the Saurashtra Land Reforms Act, 1951, the Saurashtra Barkhali Abolition Act, 1951 or the Saurashtra Estates Acquisition Act, 1952, as the case may be;
   • (h) "Watan" means the hereditary office of a Patel together with the Watan property, if any, and the rights and privileges attached thereto;
     • (i) "Watandar" means a person having an hereditary interest in a Patel Watan and includes a person whose name is entered in the register of Matadars;
   • (j) "Watan property" means the movable or immovable property, if any, appertaining to a Patel Watan.
2. (2) Words and expressions used in this Act but not defined shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Tenancy law or, as the case may be, in the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879, or any corresponding law in force in any part of the State.

Abolition of Patel Watans and incidents thereof.-

1. (1) With effect from and on the appointed day, notwithstanding anything contained in any law, usage, settlement, grant, sanad or order,—
   • (a) all Patel Watans shall be and are hereby abolished;
   • (b) all rights to hold office of a Patel and any other incidents of the Patel Watan shall be and are hereby extinguished;
   • (c) all land appertaining to a Patel Watan, if any, shall be and is hereby resumed and shall be subject to the provisions of the Land Revenue Code and the Tenancy Law as if it were unalienated land: Provided that—
     • (i) in the case of land which was held as a Patel Watan and in respect of which no commutation settlement was effected, the Watandar shall be deemed to be an occupant of the said land and shall be primarily liable to the State Government for the payment of land revenue due in respect of such land, in accordance with the provisions of the Land Revenue Code;
     • (ii) in the case of land which was held as a Patel Watan and in respect of which a commutation settlement was effected, the holder of such land shall be deemed to be an occupant thereof and shall be primarily liable to the State Government for the payment of land revenue due in respect of such land, in accordance with the provisions of the Land Revenue Code.

Abolition of right to office of Patel and remuneration.-

1. (1) With effect from and on the appointed day, notwithstanding any custom, usage, grant, sanad, order or law for the time being in force,—
   • (a) the right to hold the office of a Patel shall be and is hereby abolished;
   • (b) all remuneration in money or in kind or in both payable to a Watandar for the performance of the duties of the office of a Patel shall be, and is hereby, abolished.
2. (2) Nothing in sub-section
3. (1) shall affect the liability of the Watandar to pay the land revenue or other dues in respect of the Watan land under the provisions of the Land Revenue Code.

Liability of Watan property to land revenue

1. (1) All Watan property shall be liable to the payment of land revenue to the State Government in accordance with the provisions of the Code and the rules made thereunder, and the provisions of the Code relating to unalienated lands shall apply to such Watan property: Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any land in respect of which partial or full exemption from the payment of land revenue has been granted under the terms of any settlement or any law for the time being in force.
2. (2) Where any land, being Patel Watan land, had been exempted from payment of land revenue either wholly or partially, such exemption shall, with effect from the appointed date, be deemed to have been duly terminated and the land shall be liable to the payment of full land revenue in accordance with the provisions of the Code.

Compensation for abolition of Patel Watan

1. (1) Any person having a subsisting interest in any Patel Watan abolished under section 3 may, within a period of one year from the appointed date, apply in the prescribed form to the Collector for compensation.
2. (2) Subject to the provisions of sub-sections
3. (3) and (4), the compensation for the abolition of the Patel Watan shall be—
   • (a) in the case of a Patel Watan where the emoluments were in the form of land revenue of any village or portion thereof, a sum equal to seven times the amount of the average annual land revenue of the village or portion thereof, as the case may be, received by the Watandar during the period of three years immediately preceding the appointed date;
   • (b) in any other case, a sum equal to seven times the amount of the cash allowance or other emoluments (excluding land) which were payable to the Watandar in respect of the Patel Watan in the like period: Provided that where the land revenue or cash allowance is payable for a period of less than three years, the average shall be taken for such lesser period.
4. (3) The application under sub-section
5. (1) shall be made to the Collector in the prescribed form and shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed.
6. (4) On receipt of the application, the Collector shall, after holding such inquiry as he deems fit, determine the amount of compensation.
7. (5) Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Collector may appeal to the State Government within sixty days from the date of the decision and the decision of the State Government shall be final.

Method of awarding compensation.

1. (1) Any person entitled to compensation under section 6 shall, within the prescribed period, make an application in writing to the Collector.
2. (2) Every such application shall contain the following particulars, that is to say:—
   • (a) the name of the village and the Watan property in respect of which compensation is claimed;
   • (b) the nature and extent of the applicant's interest in the Watan property;
   • (c) the names of other persons interested in the Watan property and the nature of their interests;
   • (d) such other particulars as may be prescribed.
3. (3) The Collector shall, after holding a formal inquiry in the manner provided by the Land Revenue Code, make an award determining the amount of compensation.

Limitation. Every application made under sub-section

1. (1) of section 7 shall be made within six months from the appointed date:

Court fees Court fees.

1. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Court-fees Act, 1870, every application made under section 4 or section 6 shall bear a court-fee stamp of such value as may be prescribed.
2. (2) Every appeal made under section 7 shall bear a court-fee stamp of such value as may be prescribed.

Rules.

1. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
2. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—
   • (a) the value of court-fee stamp under section 9;
   • (b) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed under this Act.
3. (3) The rules made under this section shall be subject to the condition of previous publication in the Official Gazette.
4. (4) All rules made under this section shall be laid for not less than thirty days before each House of the State Legislature as soon as may be after they are made, and shall be subject to such modifications as the State Legislature may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session immediately following.

Delegation of powers. The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, delegate to any officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government, subject to such restrictions and conditions as may be specified in the notification, all or any of the powers conferred on the State Government by or under this Act.

Saving. Nothing in this Act shall apply to—

1. (a) the service lands or any other land to which the provisions of any law relating to the abolition of any Land Tenures in the State of Gujarat are applicable;
2. (b) the personal inam lands;
3. (c) the devasthan inam lands;
4. (d) the political inam lands.

(See section 4) Serial No. Name of the former State/Region Description of existing Watan Law Bombay area of the State of Gujarat (i) The Bombay Hereditary Offices Act, 1874 (Bom. III of 1874); (ii) Any other law, custom or usage relating to the Patel Watan. Saurashtra area of the State of Gujarat (i) The Saurashtra Patels (Abolition of Office) Act, 1951 (Sau. Act VI of 1951); (ii) Any other law, custom or usage relating to the Patel Watan. Kutch area of the State of Gujarat (i) Any law, custom or usage relating to the Patel Watan.