Collector’s failure to decide a Section 65 application within three months creates deemed NA permission.

The petitioners purchased old-tenure agricultural land bearing Survey No. 1111/1, admeasuring 2 Acres and 20 Gunthas at Chaklasi Pati, Nadiad, through a registered sale deed dated 21 March 2006.

The transaction was recorded and certified in the revenue record through Mutation Entry No. 16081.

Earlier, the Deputy Collector had removed the restrictions under Section 43 of the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 (“Tenancy Act”), and that order was not challenged by the State.

On 21 January 2011, the petitioners applied to the Collector for permission under Section 65 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879 (“BLR Code”) to use the land for residential/non-agricultural purposes.

The application remained undecided.

However, by communication/order dated 5 March 2013, the Collector held that the petitioners were not entitled to non-agricultural permission, principally on the grounds that they were not agriculturists and had not produced the requisite certificate under Section 63AA of the Tenancy Act.

Whether the petitioners acquired deemed non-agricultural permission under the proviso to Section 65(1) of the BLR Code because the Collector failed to decide their application within three months.

Whether the restrictions under Section 43 of the Tenancy Act continued to operate despite the Deputy Collector’s order removing those restrictions.

Whether the petitioners were required to obtain a certificate under Section 63AA of the Tenancy Act before seeking non-agricultural use of the land.

Whether the Collector’s order dated 5 March 2013 refusing non-agricultural permission was liable to be quashed.

The Court applied Section 65(1) of the BLR Code, under which an occupant seeking to use agricultural land for another purpose must apply for the Collector’s permission, but permission is deemed to have been granted if the Collector does not communicate a decision within three months.

It also applied the principle that an order removing restrictions under Section 43 of the Tenancy Act remains operative and cannot be collaterally disregarded where the State has not challenged it within a reasonable time.

Sections 63 and 63AA of the Tenancy Act were considered: Section 63 restricts transfer of agricultural land to non-agriculturists, while Section 63AA creates an exception permitting transfer for a bona fide industrial purpose where the statutory conditions are satisfied; the Court held that a separate certificate under Section 63AA was not required in the circumstances of the case.

The Court also directed the authority to consider the guidelines laid down in Dudabhai Bhutabhai Rabari v. State of Gujarat, Special Civil Application No. 6616 of 2023, decided on 12 June 2025.

The Court found that the petitioners’ Section 65 application had admittedly remained undecided for more than three months.

Applying the express deeming provision in Section 65(1) of the BLR Code, the Court held that non-agricultural permission was deemed to have been granted in 2011.

It further held that the Deputy Collector’s order removing the Section 43 restrictions had attained finality because the State had not challenged it, and the Collector could not subsequently rely on those restrictions to deny permission.

The Court also rejected the objection concerning Section 63AA, reasoning that the provision operated as an exception to Section 63 and that the petitioners were not required to obtain a separate certificate under Section 63AA in the facts presented.

Consequently, the Collector’s refusal was found inconsistent with the statutory deeming fiction and the subsisting prior orders concerning the land.

It held that the petitioners were entitled to rely on deemed permission under Section 65(1) of the BLR Code and that the Section 43 restrictions had already been removed.

Nevertheless, the petitioners were directed to submit a fresh application for conversion of the land to non-agricultural use.

The Collector, Kheda, was directed to decide that application in accordance with law, after granting a full opportunity of hearing, within 30 days of its submission, while considering the guidelines in Dudabhai Bhutabhai Rabari.