Gujarat Land Revenue Code, 1879
[([1)] It shall be lawful for the State Government to appoint a village accountant for a village or a group of villages. In villages where no hereditary patel exists, it shall be lawful for the State Government to appoint a stipendiary patel. The village accountant and the patel shall perform all the duties including the duties of village accountant or hereditary patel as hereinafter prescribed by this Act or any other law for the time being in force and shall hold their situations under the rules in force with regard to subordinate revenue officers. Nothing in this section shall be held to affect any subsisting rights of holders of alienated villages or others in respect of the appointment of patels and village accountants in any alienated or other villages.