IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 6TH DAY OF MARCH 2019 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE S. SUNIL DUTT YADAV WRIT PETITION Nos.29335-29339/2015 AND WRIT PETITION Nos.29340-29341/2015 (LB- RES) Between:
1. Smt. Lakshmi Devamma, Aged about 73 years, W/o Late Sri J.R.Shankarappa.
2. Sri J.S. Jagannath, Aged about 57 years, S/o Late Sri J.R. Shankarappa.
3. Sri J.S. Amarnath, Aged about 52 years, S/o Late Sri J.R. Shankarappa.
Nos.1 to 3 residing at: No.360, Pritchard Road, Robertsonpet, Kolar Gold Fields – 563 122, Kolar District.
4. Smt. J.S. Vedavathi, Aged about 50 years, D/o Late Sri J.R. Shankarappa, W/o Late Sri B. Chengappa, R/at Door No.13/2013, Somaiah Street, Kuppam Town and Taluk, Chittor District – 517 370.
5. Smt. J.S. Prabhavathi, Aged about 48 years, D/o Late Sri J.R. Shankarappa, W/o Sri V.Sampangiramaswamy, R/at Door No.1, Srineedhi Nivas, 1st main, 4th Cross, New Extension, K.R. Puram, Bangalore – 36.
6. Sri J.S. Murali Babu, Aged about 45 years, S/o Late Sri J.R. Shankarappa, R/at No.360, Pritchard Road, Robertsonpet, Kolar Gold Fields – 563 122, Kolar District.
7. Smt. J.S. Manjula, Aged about 42 years, D/o Late Sri J.R. Shankarappa, W/o Sri J. Govind, R/at No.13/125, Kothapata Street, B. Kothakota, Chittor District – 517 370. (By Sri N.K. Siddeswara, Advocate) And:
1. The President, Zilla Panchayat, Kolar – 563 101.
… Petitioners 2. The Executive Officer, Taluk Panchayat, Bangarapet – 563 114.
3. Panchayat Development Officer, Parandahalli Gram Panchayat, Parandahalli, Bangarapet – 563 114.
4. Smt. Ramakka, Aged about 53 years, W/o Sri Krishna Reddy, R/at Parandahalli, Bethamangala Hobli, Bangarapet Taluk – 563 116, Kolar District.
… Respondents (By Sri M. Narayana Reddy, Advocate for R-1 & R-3; R-2 Served;
Sri R.B. Sadasivappa, Advocate for Sri N. Murali, Advocate for R-4) ***** These Writ Petitions are filed under Articles 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India, praying to quash the impugned order passed by the respondent No.1 vide Annexure-A in the writ petition and consequently declare the said order as illegal, perverse, arbitrary and opposed to law and order without jurisdiction and etc.
These Writ Petitions coming on for Orders this day, the Court made the following:
ORDER The petitioners have challenged the order at Annexure-A dated 25.11.2014 whereby, the Adhyaksha of Zilla Panchayat has allowed the appeal and set aside the order passed by the Executive Officer of Taluk Panchayat dated 11.03.2013. The Executive Officer, Taluk Panchayat, Bangarpet taking note of the report of Panchayat Development Officer has set aside the entries in the Demand Register Extract made with respect to Survey No.20 and directed continuance of entries in the records as was prior to the entries being made. The said order has come to be challenged by the respondent No.4 before the President of Zilla Panchayat, Kolar invoking Section 237(3) of the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act, 1993 (‘the Act’ for brevity) 2. It is to be noticed as rightly contended by the petitioners that the scope of power available under Section 237(3) of the Act is limited to the suspension of execution of an order or to prohibit doing of certain action. It is also to be noticed that as per Section 237(4) of the Act, after an order is made pursuant to an order under Section 237(3) of the Act, necessary report ought to be forwarded to the Government and the Taluk Panchayat with statement of reasons for making such an order and it is for the Government to confirm or rescind or direct that it shall continue to be in force with or without modification permanently or for such period as Adhyaksha would think fit, provided reasonable opportunity of show cause shall be given to the concerned Taluk Panchayat.
3. In light of the aforesaid position, the order at Annexure-A dated 25.11.2014 is liable to be set aside and is accordingly set aside and the proceedings to be considered afresh by respondent No.1.
4. The respondent No.1 is required to consider the proceedings at the instance of respondent No.4 afresh and pass an order keeping in mind the limited power available under Section 237(3) of the Act and take appropriate action for forwarding the proceedings as envisaged under Section 237(4) of the Act to the Government. Such exercise is to be done in light of the observations made above.
5. The parties are directed to be present before the Adhyaksha, Zilla Panchayat, Kolar District on 20.03.2019 at 11.00 a.m. without waiting for further notice from this Court.
Subject to the above observations, these petitions are accordingly disposed of.
Sd/- JUDGE VGR