U.V. SRIDHAR Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is before this Court calling question orders dtd. 31/1/2014 and 22/2/2014, both passed by the 2nd respondent/President of the Zilla Panchayat, latter order having been passed reviewing the earlier order passed on 31/1/2014.

(2.) Heard Sri S.V.Prakash, learned counsel for the petitioner; Smt. Prathiba Honnapura, learned Additional Government Advocate for respondent No.1; Sri B.J. Eshwarappa, learned counsel for respondent No.2, Sri Jayakumar S.Patil, Senior Counsel for Sri A. Mohammed Tahir, learned counsel for respondents 5 and 6.

(3.) Brief facts leading to the filing of the present petition, as borne out from the pleadings, are as follows: The petitioner claims to be the absolute owner of property in Sy.No.29 of Anavatti Village, Sorab Taluk, Shimoga District. It is the claim of the petitioner that he inherited the said property from his father late A.Venkatarao and also claims to be in possession of the said property even to this day. It is contended that the father of the petitioner who was the owner of the land in Sy.Nos.5, 6, 53, 28 and 29 of Anavatii Village got the said lands converted from agriculture to non-agricultural purposes and set up a rice mill. The land in Sy.Nos.5 and 6 was sold in public auction by the Tahsildar for arrears of land revenue that was to be paid to the Government. The land in Sy.Nos.53, 28 and 29 were not auctioned by the Government, is the claim of the petitioner. Notwithstanding there being no auction, entries of the said survey numbers were made showing that the said lands belonged to Government as the same were appropriated towards arrears of land revenue. Notwithstanding this, the petitioner claims to be in possession of the land even after the death of his father right from 1952-53.