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J’khand HC cancels 1959 tribal land transfer to Munjal family
Jharkhand High Court ruled against the Munjal family's claim to land, citing fraud on tribal laws, restoring it to original heirs under CNT Act protections.
In a landmark judgment reinforcing the protective nature of the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, the Jharkhand High Court dismissed a petition by the Munjal family seeking to retain 2.90 acres of prime land near Medica Hospital in village Booty.
The court ruled that the original permission to sell the land, granted by the deputy commissioner in 1959, was “void ab initio” and an “egregious fraud” on tribal protection laws.
The case, Prakash Munjal & Ors. vs. State of Jharkhand, centered on a 1959 transaction where ancestors of the Munjal family purchased land from Ram and Somra Pahan. The then deputy commissioner sanctioned the sale under Section 49 of the CNT Act, accepting the Pahans’ plea that they needed funds to “purchase bullocks” and release other mortgaged paddy fields. However, Justice Deepak Roshan’s bench observed that Section 49 strictly limits the transfer of tribal land to specific “reasonable and sufficient purposes,” such as charitable, religious, or educational use.
“The order granting permission is a glaringly, conspicuously, and extraordinarily bad act of deception... it is a flagrant violation that shakes the conscience of the court,” the judgment stated.
The petitioners argued that they had held the land for over six decades, citing multiple previous court victories and rent receipts. They challenged a 2021 order by the revenue minister that annulled their ownership and ordered the restoration of the land to the tribal heirs.
The HC applied the legal maxim sublato fundamento cadit opus, meaning if the foundation is removed, the superstructure must fall. By declaring the original 1959 permission a nullity, the court ruled that all subsequent claims of ownership by the Munjal family were invalid, regardless of how much time had passed.
While the Munjals lost the land, the court provided a small of relief by quashing directions for a criminal investigation. The revenue minister had previously ordered the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to lodge an FIR against the family. Justice Roshan ruled these directions were “misconceived and unwarranted,” noting that the minister, acting as a tribunal, had exceeded his jurisdiction in ordering criminal proceedings.
The ruling emphasises that the CNT Act is a “beneficial piece of social legislation” designed to protect “gullible” tribal communities from exploitation. The court reiterated that the state’s duty was to ensure tribal lands did not pass into non-tribal hands through “unscrupulous devices.”
With this order, the 2.90-acre plot in Ranchi’s Sadar area is set to be restored to the legal heirs of the original raiyat, Bipta Pahan, marking the end of a legal battle spanning generations.
High court advocate Amar Kumar Sinha, who argued on behalf of the Munjal family, confirmed the order was given on May 1 and uploaded on the Jharkhand High Court website on May 4. He said he had advised his client to challenge the order.
“I have advised my client to challenge the order in court. The limitation for hearing the dispute under the CNT Act is 12 years. Apart from this, once the HC decided the matter in favour of my client,” Sinha said.
