In Brief
An agricultural exchange deed between a non-Scheduled Tribe bhumidhar and a Scheduled Tribe member, whereby the Tribe member transferred 2400 sq.m. of land to the respondents in return for 56.25 sq.m., was held void. The Supreme Court upheld the State's vesting of the land, finding the exchange violated Section 157-B of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, which comprehensively bars all transfer of Scheduled Tribe land to non-Tribe persons. The Court rejected arguments that post-facto approval (through mutation and regulatory approvals) or payment of stamp duty cured the breach, and held that prior permission under Section 161 was mandatory and could not be waived by circumstances like hotel construction and financial hardship.
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