STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS. vs ATMA RAM SADASHIV DONGARWAR AND ORS.

The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision that the right to free water for irrigation from the Navegaon Bandh Reservoir was a customary right recognized in the Wazib-ul-Arz and was not extinguished by the Madhya Pradesh Abolition of Proprietary Rights Act, 1950 or the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1954. The Court clarified that Sections 45, 46, and 47 of the Abolition of Proprietary Rights Act ensure that occupancy tenants retain their rights to irrigation without payment even after the vesting of the tank in the State. Consequently, the State Government was found incompetent to levy water charges under the Central Provinces Irrigation Act, 1931.