IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 12TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 2019 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K.NATARAJAN WRIT PETITION No.33813 of 2014 (SC/ST) BETWEEN SMT. ALMELAMMA W/O. KRISHNA, AGED ABOUT 52 YEARS, RESIDING AT K.P. DODDI VILLAGE, KYLANCHA HOBLI, RAMANAGARM TALUK AND DISTRICT.
(BY SRI VENKATESH H.N., ADVOCATE) AND 1. THE STATE OF KARNATAKA REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY TO THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, M.S. BUILDING, BANGALORE – 560 001.
2. THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER RAMANAGARAM SUB-DIVISION, RAMANAGARAM, MINI VIDHANA SOUDHA, RAMANAGARAM DISTRICT – 562 159.
…PETITIONER …RESPONDENTS (BY SMT. SAVITHRAMMA, HCGP FOR R1 AND R2.) THIS WRIT PETITION IS FILED UNDER ARTICLES 226 AND 227 OF CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, PRAYING TO DIRECT THE R2 TO CONSIDER THE REQUEST OF THE PETITIONER DATED 29.01.2014 VIDE ANNEXURE-D, AND TO TAKE ACTION BY HOLDING ENQUIRY UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF PTCL ACT, 1978, AND RESTORE THE LANDS TO THE PETITIONERS FAMILY BY DECLARING THE ILLEGAL SALE DEEDS VIDE ANNEXURE-E1 AND E2, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PTCL ACT.
THIS WRIT PETITION COMING ON FOR PRELIMINARY HEARING IN ‘B’ GROUP, THIS DAY, THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING:
ORDER Learned High Court Government Pleader takes notice for respondent Nos.1 and 2.
2. This petition is filed by the legal heir of the original grantee of the land granted to the persons belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes community under the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978, (‘PTCL Act’ for short) which came into force with effect from 01.01.1979. The petitioner filed an application under Section 5 of the PTCL Act before the Assistant Commissioner, Ramanagaram Sub-Division on 29.01.2014 along with the documents seeking restoration of the land in question. The Assistant Commissioner in spite of receiving the application has not taken any action for making enquiry or passed any order. Therefore, the petitioner is before this Court by way of this writ petition for a writ of mandamus directing the Assistant Commissioner to consider her application dated 29.01.2014, vide Annexure D.
3. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned High Court Government Pleader for respondent Nos.1 and 2 and perused the application and the documents produced therein.
4. The case of the petitioner is that her father-in-law was granted certain land and he was cultivating the same. During his life time, he had partitioned the land in favour of his two sons and the land in Sy.No.173 measuring 1 acre 22.08 guntas was granted to her husband - Krishna by her father-in-law namely, Thoti Rangaiah. It is alleged that the said land has been sold by her husband in the year 2004 to one Shakuntala and later one more sale has been effected in the year 2006 in favour of one Badrinath in violation of Section 4(2) of the PTCL Act. Therefore, there is violation of the land grant rules and Section 4(2) of the PTCL Act. Hence, she filed an application before the Assistant Commissioner for restoration, but the same has not been considered by the Assistant Commissioner.
5. On perusal of the record, it is clear that the application Annexure-D dated 29.01.2014 has been filed before the Assistant Commissioner on 31.01.2014. Till date no action has been taken by the Assistant Commissioner. The provisions of Section 5 of the PTCL Act is extracted below for ready reference:
“5. Resumption and restitution of granted lands.- (1) Where, on application by any interested person or on information given in writing by any person or suo-motu, and after such enquiry as he deems necessary, the Assistant Commissioner is satisfied that the transfer of any granted land is null and void under sub-section (1) of section 4, he may,-
(a) by order take possession of such land after evicting all persons in possession thereof in such manner as may be prescribed:
Provided that no such order shall be made except after giving the person affected a reasonable opportunity of being heard;
(b) restore such land to the original grantee or his legal heir. Where it is not reasonably practicable to restore the land to such grantee or legal heir; such land shall be deemed to have vested in the Government free form all encumbrances. The Government may grant such land to a person belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes in accordance with the rules relating to grant of land.
[(1A) After an enquiry referred to in sub- section (1) the Assistant Commissioner may, if he is satisfied that transfer of any granted land is not null and void pass an order accordingly.] (2) [Subject to the orders of the Deputy Commissioner under section 5A, any order passed] under [sub-section (1) and (1A)] shall be final and shall not be questioned in any court of law and no injunction shall be granted by any court in respect of any proceeding taken or about to be taken by the Assistant Commissioner in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act.
(3) For the purposes of this section, where any granted land is in the possession of a person, other then the original grantee or his legal heir, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that such person has acquired the land by a transfer which is null and void under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 4.”
6. In view of the above, the land said to have been granted to the father-in-law of the petitioner has been sold in violation of the PTCL Act and the Assistant Commissioner is having power to take up suo motu action and to declare the sale deed as null and void in view of the commencement of the PTCL Act. Even though there is prohibition under Section 6 of the PTCL Act for registering the granted land. Such being the case, once the application is filed by the petitioner, it is the duty of the Assistant Commissioner to consider the application by issuing notice to the purchaser shall hold an enquiry and pass appropriate order either for resumption or restoration in accordance with law. Therefore, the petitioner has made out sufficient ground for issue of a writ of mandamus.
7. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed. The Assistant Commissioner, Ramanagaram is directed to consider the application dated 29.01.2014 vide Annexure-D filed by the petitioner and take up enquiry in accordance with law within one month from the date of receipt of copy of the order.
SD/- JUDGE mv