In Brief
This case concerned whether a land ceiling authority in Maharashtra could invalidate a registered partition deed executed before a statutory cut-off date as a sham transaction intended to circumvent the Agricultural Lands Ceiling Act. The Supreme Court held that the Collector has no jurisdiction to declare such pre-cut-off date partition deeds void, as the Act's deeming provisions apply only to transfers at or after the cut-off date. Accordingly, lands transferred before the cut-off date cannot be included in calculating ceiling area, and the appeal was allowed in favour of the landowners.
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