IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU ON THE 30TH DAY OF OCTOBER 2019 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAVI MALIMATH AND THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ASHOK S. KINAGI WRIT APPEAL Nos.1637-1638 OF 2018 (KLR-REG) BETWEEN:
1. T J BABU SON OF T A JACOB AGED ABOUT 70 YEARS (SENIOR CITIZEN NOT CLAIMED) RESIDENT OF NIDIGE VILLAGE SHIVAMOGGA TALUK-577 201.
2. T J BABY SON OF T A JACOB AGED ABOUT 68 YEARS (SENIOR CITIZEN NOT CLAIMED) RESIDENT OF NIDIGE VILLAGE-577 201 SHIVAMOGGA TALUK …..APPELLANTS (BY SRI. MAHABALESHWARA RAO K N, ADVOCATE) AND:
1. THE TAHASILDAR SHIVAMOGGA TALUK-577 201 SHIVAMOGGA DISTRICT 2. THE COMMITTEE FOR REGULARISATION OF UNAUTHORISED OCCUPATION IN SHIVAMOGGA TALUK BY ITS CHAIRMAN OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SHIVAMOGGA DISTRICT-577 201 …RESPONDENTS (BY SRI. KIRAN KUMAR, HCGP FOR R-1 AND R-2) THESE WRIT APPEALS ARE FILED UNDER SECTION 4 OF THE KARNATAKA HIGH COURT ACT PRAYING TO SET ASIDE THE JUDGMENT DATED 14.2.2018 IN WRIT PETITION 47719-47720 OF 2017 AND ALLOW THE WRIT PETITIONS.
THESE WRIT APPEALS COMING ON FOR ADMISSION THIS DAY, ASHOK S KINAGI J., DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
JUDGMENT Aggrieved by the order dated 14.2.2018 passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.Nos.47719-720 of 2017 in dismissing the writ petitions, the petitioners have come up in appeal.
2. Parties are referred to as they are referred to in the writ petitions.
3. Brief facts of the case are as follows :
It is the case of the petitioners that they are in occupation and enjoyment of the agricultural land bearing Sy.No.45 of Dummavalli Village, Shivamogga Taluk. The petitioners are in occupation of an extent of 2 acres 20 guntas as unauthorised occupants. Petitioners submitted application for regularization of their holding under Section 94-A of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’ for brevity) well within time. A Committee was constituted by the Government under Section 94-A(1) of the Act to regularize their unauthorized holding. The Committee held the meeting on 30.4.1992 and resolved to regularize the holding of the petitioners whose names were found in Sl.Nos.1 and 3. The Tahsildar issued an endorsement dated 15.4.1993 stating that their application has been rejected on the ground that the land falls within the limits of Mahanagara palike. The petitioners filed an appeal before the Assistant Commissioner, Shivamogga against the said endorsement. The Assistant Commissioner has set aside the order of the Tahsildar and remitted the matter to the Committee for proper disposal of the claim of the petitioners by order dated 15.3.1996. Subsequently, no action was taken by the respondents. Therefore the petitioners filed W.P.Nos.16454 to 455 of 2001 before this court seeking appropriate direction to consider the application filed by the petitioners. This Court vide order dated 17.4.2001 issued a direction to the respondents to consider the application filed by the petitioners in accordance with law. As per the direction of this Court, the Committee has taken up the application of the petitioners for consideration. The Revenue Inspector has conducted a mahazar and has reported that the petitioners are in possession and enjoyment of the land and also recorded the statement of the villagers and submitted a report. The Tahsildar issued an endorsement dated 8.8.2017 as per Annexure-D stating that as the property under consideration comes within 5 kms. of Shivamogga City Municipality, the Committee for regularization has decided to reject the request of the petitioners for regularization. The petitioners aggrieved by the endorsement dated 8.8.2017 in file No.ALND(2) C.R.129/1999-2000 filed the writ petition Nos. 47719- 720 of 2017.
4. The learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petitions vide order dated 14.2.2018. The petitioners aggrieved by the order dated 14.2.2018 passed in W.P.Nos.47719 to 720 of 2017, has filed these appeals.
5. Heard the arguments and perused the records.
6. Petitioners are in possession of land to the extent of 2 acre 20 guntas of the aforesaid village and the said fact has not been denied by the respondents. The respondents have rejected the application of the petitioners on the ground that the land under consideration comes within the radius of 5 kms. of Shivamogga City Municipality. The respondents have produced the map showing the villages situated around the Municipality of Shivamogga and also Notification dated 8.9.2003 showing the list of villages falling within the radius of 5 kms. coming under the Shivamogga Municipal Council. That the aforesaid village Dummalli is shown at Sl.No.58 in the said Notification. That it comes within the radius of 5 kms. of Shivamogga City Municipality.
6. Section 94-A of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 reads as under :
“94-A Regularisation of certain cases of unauthorised occupation by constituting committee etc.-
(1) xxxx (2) xxxx (3) xxxx (4) Nothing in Section 94 shall prevent the committee constituted under sub-section (1), [or additional Committee constituted under sub-section (2-A)] but subject to such rules as may be prescribed, if any, to grant to the person liable to be evicted under that section the land which he had unauthorisedly occupied prior to the fourteenth day of April, 1990 (hereinafter referred to as the said date) or any portion thereof, if he satisfies the prescribed conditions (including the extent of the land held and unauthorisedly occupied by him) and makes within a period of six months from the date of commencement of Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Act, 1990 (hereinafter referred to as the Amendment Act), an application for such grant in such form along with such fees, as may be prescribed and on payment of the amount payable under sub-section (5):
Provided that the land so granted together with the land already held by such person, shall not exceed two hectares of ‘D’ class of land or its equivalent thereto:
Provided further that no land shall be granted in the areas lying within the limits of Cities and City Municipalities specified in column (2) of the Table below and within the distance from such limits specified in the corresponding entries in column (3) thereof:
TABLE
From the above, it is clear that as per the proviso to Section 94-A of the Act, the land falls within the radius of 5 kms. within the municipal limits.
7. The Committee has recommended to consider the application of the petitioners for regularization of their unauthorized holdings in a meeting held on 30.4.1992. The petitioners had filed writ petition Nos.16454 to 16455 of 2001 before this Court seeking for a mandamus directing the respondents to consider their application for regularization. This Court disposed of the writ petitions directing the respondents to consider the application filed by the petitioners in accordance with law. Thereafter, as per the order of this court, the Committee has considered the application of the petitioners for regularization and resolved to reject the application of the petitioners for regularisation on the ground that the property under consideration comes within the radius of 5 kms. of Shimoga City Municipality and has rejected the application of the petitioners in the meeting held on 27.5.2017.
8. The Committee has rightly rejected the application of the petitioners by considering Section 94-A of the Act.
9. The learned Single Judge after consideration of the material on record, dismissed the writ petitions.
The petitioners filed a Review Petition Nos.131 of 2018 and 150 of 2018. The learned Single Judge has rejected the Review Petitions also. Hence, we do not find any grounds to interfere with the impugned order.
Hence, we proceed to pass the following order : The writ appeals are dismissed.
Sd/- JUDGE Sd/- JUDGE rs