The shocking involvement of the police in the ₹20,000 crore land scam in Mulasana tells the story of how politicians, revenue department officials, the collector's office, and the police themselves, have collectively schemed to take away the land that rightfully belonged to the farmers.

Completely opposite to the so-called Gujarat model, the police scared the tenants like the ‘Bihar-model’, forcefully evacuating the farmers from the land, making way for the builders. As a result, 400 tenants and their families were left homeless.

The history of the ₹20,000 crore Mulasana land

In 1918, two families gave about 2300 bighas of land to panjrapol for cattle at a token rent. Many families cultivated the land as farms, and the grass served as fodder for the cattle. 

In 1975, another 200 families were given the land under tenancy by panjrapol, protected under Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act’s section 88(B). The Act states that tenants’ rights can be suspended but not taken away.

Section 88(B) gets cancelled with the termination of the leasehold tenure, making tenants land-owners automatically under section 32(G). Under this section, the Mamalatdar sets a price for the tenants, making them owners with new and undivided conditions.

The Act has no provisions for the land to be returned to the original owners. If the tenants refuse ownership, the land is made 'Shri Sarkar' (government-owned).

Current law for the protection of the tenants 

Before 1973, there was a law under section 3215(2) of 'Gharkhed' Ordinance (roughly translated as: land reserved by landholders for cultivating personally) to return the land to landowners. The law was misused, forcing tenants to give up the land. 

To protect and empower the tenants, the government repealed the Gharkhed Ordinance in 1973 and passed a strict law.

Lands that tenants refused to buy would be passed on to their heirs, or kept at the disposal of the Collector, but would not be returned to the landowners, under Section 32 P2(c). 

Till date, the Gujarat govt grants lands to the heirs of thousands of tenants through ‘Shri Sarkar’ (government-owned). So, currently, only the tenants can own the land, or can be Shri Sarkar.

In the Mulasana case, tenants were forcefully evacuated with the help of the police, resorting to fear, money, or submission of false documents to the Revenue department.

No government has the right to take or sell the land of the tenants 

After Independence, a law was formed that the land would belong to the one cultivating it (ખેડે તેની જમીન).

However, the then Gujarat govt tried to repeatedly take away the tenants’ land and sell it. There has been a blatant violation of the law by the scammers, politicians, and corrupt officials of the revenue department.

The then govt repeatedly tried to seize and sell the tenants' land, blatantly violating the law with scammers, politicians, and corrupt officials from the revenue department. 

Illegal documents were signed in Ahmedabad Central Jail 

Unfortunately, the rightful owners of the land, the tenants, were wrongfully accused, imprisoned, and forced into selling their land, that too in the presence of police officers. In fact, as per sources, the Thakor family, who rightfully owned Mulasana land survey numbers 371, 372, and 374, were compelled to give away their land while still in jail.

It seems, a tenant named Thakor Jivaji Gandaji was forced to sign the illegal documents of the land when he was in Ahmedabad Central Jail. It is not certain how the illegal sale transactions were allowed on this land despite pending proceedings under the Tenancy Act.

Forget empowerment, the farmers were made poorer!

Post Independence, the Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act of 1948 was introduced to achieve agricultural self-sufficiency in the country and providing specific rights to land cultivators. This Act was a significant effort by the government to empower the tenants. 

However, these steps to empower the farmers have been washed away by the then government’s ‘anti-farmer mentality’. In doing so, even a constitutional law has been neglected.

Read more about the Mulasana land scam here:

₹20,000 cr Gujarat land scam exposed: how a nexus of builders, politicians and officials syphoned off cattle land

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