In Brief
Vasant Ganpat Padave and other tenants of agricultural land in Maharashtra sought to purchase their holdings under Section 32 of the Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948. The landlord was a widow whose interest passed to an heir after her death in 1999. The tenants did not know of the landlord's death and made a purchase application in 2008. Courts below rejected the application, holding that the tenant had lost the right by failing to exercise it within the prescribed period under Section 32F. A two-judge Bench referred the matter to a larger Bench, noting that the 1969 Amendment intended to facilitate tenants' rights but prior judgments did not consider this legislative intent, and that the prescribed period should commence upon the tenant's knowledge of the landlord's death."
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.