4 min readVadodaraFeb 26, 2026 03:46 AM IST
First published on: Feb 26, 2026 at 03:46 AM IST
THE GUJARAT High Court (HC) on Tuesday reserved its judgment in an appeal filed by the Sant Shri Asharam Ashram, challenging a February 5 order of a single judge bench of the HC that upheld the action of the state authorities and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in taking back possession of 45,000 square metres of government land where the Ashram stands, also granting that “no coercive” steps shall be taken against the Ashram until the delivery of the judgment.
In an oral order on Tuesday, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D N Ray, noted that Government Pleader G H Virk submitted that an undertaking had been given before the Single Judge to not implement the notice for eviction to be issued under Section 202 of the Gujarat Land Revenue Code, 1879 for a period of two weeks from February 5 – when the judgment was pronounced by the Single judge.
In its oral order, the HC, on Tuesday said, “(The undertaking) has been given not to implement the notice under Section-202 of the Gujarat Land Revenue Code, 1879 for a period of two weeks, which has expired on 19.02.2026 during the hearing of the present appeal, we may provide that no coercive steps shall be taken against the appellant till the delivery of this judgment.”
During the appeal before the HC, Senior Advocates Mihir Thakore and R S Sanjanwala and advocate Aadit Sanjanwala appeared for the Ashram while Government Pleader G H Virk along with Assistant Government Pleader Dharitri Pancholi made submissions on behalf of the authorities.
The appeal challenged the February 5 judgment of the single judge with the petitioner’s advocates submitting that there was “discrepancy” between the land allotted to the Ashram and that which is under its actual possession at the time of measurements carried out by the authorities. The Ashram submitted that a total of approximately 39,000 square metres was allotted to the Ashram while the City Deputy Collector and the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal (GRT) had found that the Ashram was in possession of over 49000 square metres of land with unauthorised encroachments.
The appeal also challenged the measurements carried out by the authorities, in response to which, Government Pleader Virk made detailed submissions, explaining to the court the different equipment used to measure the land and also detailing how a Differential GPS helps measure land accurately by bringing in the equipment as well as the person, who carried out the measurement of the Ashram land before the court. Virk submitted that DGPS precisely surveys the spots by enhancing the accuracy of standard GPS machines by recording the latitude and longitude of the points in a “highly accurate” form and thus, the measurements carried out in the River area, Old Gamtal area and the survey plots under contention were “accurate”.
The state also submitted that the Ashram had violated the conditions of the allotment orders, including unauthorized encroachment and profit-making activities on the land. The HC, after hearing submissions from both sides, reserved judgment in the matter.
What the Gujarat Land Revenue Code says
Section 202 of the Gujarat Land Revenue Code, 1879, outlines the procedure for serving notice to evict any person in wrongful possession of government land. The notice under Section 202 of the Code is a procedural mechanism for enforcing eviction and must be issued by the Collector.
Asaram Bapu was convicted by a trial court in 2018 for the rape of a minor girl and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life. (File Photo) 
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