MUNIYAMMA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Writ petitioners in these writ petitions claim to be persons belonging to weaker sections of society or illiterates and have been in unauthorised occupation of different extents of land in Sy Nos. 47 and 48 of Kothanur village, K R Puram Hobli, Bangalore east taluk, Bangalore.

(2.) It is the version of the petitioners that the land measuring 53 acres 20 guntas - a gomal land located in Sy Nos. 47 and 48 of the village, is a very useful land for the villages and is virtually a source for their sustenance, being a community land meant for pasteurizing the cattle of the village and the petitioners in addition have also started cultivating bits and pieces of this land by being in unauthorized occupation of such land.

(3.) Petitioners, on such assertion, have questioned the legality of the order dated 27-6-2006 [copy at Annexure-K to the writ petition], passed by the third respondent-Deputy Commissioner in proceedings No. RHS/CR/44/ 1982-83, where under the Deputy Commissioner while examined the possibility of the action to be taken against unauthorized occupants in gomal land situated in Kothanur village, had noticed the request, made by the Ex-servicemen & Economically Weaker Section Society [8th respondent herein] [for short, ex-servicemen society] to the effect that the members of the society having teen allotted house sites as houseless and poor persons belonging to economically weaker sections of the society and socially backward sections of society and also comprising of ex-servicemen and though such allotments of house sites had been made way back in the year ,1972-73, they have not been able to reap the benefit of the allotment, as a few sites i.e. about seven sites had been encroached upon by third parties and their request to provide protection and to evict such encroachers was not possible, for the reason that the state government in its wisdom had passed orders, in the year 1986 ordering handing over of the entire extent of Sy Nos. 47 and 48 of Kothanur village to the forest department, which department thereafter, was required to take care of the lands and develop greenery in the area. In the background of these developments, the Deputy Commissioner had ordered that the available land in Sy Nos. 47 and 48 of Kothanur should continue with the forest department to take up afforestation work and therefore the request of the ex-servicemen society was inevitably rejected.