Multiple land ownership in Gujarat stalls aid to farmers: PIL

Multiple ownership of lakhs of acres of land in Saurashtra and Kutch region in Gujarat has led to a situation where thousands of farmers are denied any government assistance since authorities cannot collect taxes, a public interest litigation (PIL) filed before the Gujarat High Court said.
Acting on the PIL, a Gujarat High Court division bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice J B Pardiwala asked state authorities to come up with a solution and also to take expert opinion about multiple ownership of land.
The direction came on a PIL filed by one Haider Ali Katiya from Vakaner town in Rajkot district, who alleged that lands in most parts of Saurashtra region have three owners due to improper procedure of land demarcation.

"When Gujarat state was formed in the year 1960, the Saurashtra region merged with Gujarat. At that time, land demarcation was done by state authorities which was completed in 1964. Demarcation was not done properly, which led to a situation where one piece of land has two or more owners," the PIL said.
The PIL said that there are lakhs of acres with three owners, including the owner of the land at the time of the state's formation, the government itself and a third owner who is cultivating it at present.
There are cases where the state government seized land and gave it to a third party, which created more confusion about its ownership, the PIL said.

The PIL alleged that some of the heirs of original land owners could not transfer their forefathers' assets to their names and were deprived of land.