HC fumes over mamlatdar’s order on hiring a lawyer

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Monday asked a mamlatdar in Dahod town not to conduct a hearing on the notice he issued to 10 people, taking exception to their purchasing agricultural land despite not being farmers.
The reason for the court stopping the mamlatdar from proceeding on the notice was the latter’s decision of not allowing the 10 people to hire a lawyer.
On June 26, the mamlatdar sent them the notice through a WhatsApp message, asking them to remain present for a hearing on July 3 to explain why their transaction should not be cancelled since they had bought agricultural land without requisite permissions and in violation of the existing land laws.
Besides challenging the notice on merit, the petitioners’ advocate Ronith Joy drew the court’s attention to the recital in the notice that only the infirm and the illiterate can hire a lawyer to represent themselves before the mamlatdar, collector or tribunal. Others are not entitled to have themselves represented by a lawyer.
On noticing this, Justice Nikhil Kariel questioned the govt lawyer present in the courtroom, “From where does he get that discretion? Where does the law provide that only those who are uneducated, infirm and incapable are entitled to advocates? Which law says that only such persons can hire advocates? From where the mamlatdar gets this knowledge?”
When the petitioner’s advocate urged the court to stop the mamlatdar from conducting proceedings on July 3, the judge posted a further hearing of the matter on July 8 and told the govt lawyer, “Make sure that nothing happens till then.”