VEERABHADRAPPA S/O. VEERAPPA AND OTHERS Vs. THE STATE OF KARNATAKA REVENUE DEPARTMENT 5TH FLOOR, M.S. BUILDING, DR. AMBEDKAR ROAD, BANGALORE - 560 001 REP. BY ITS SECRETARY AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners have sought for a writ of certiorari to quash the order passed by the Regional Commissioner -2nd respondent at annexure -H dated 28.5.2010 and the order of the Deputy Commissioner -3rd respondent at annexure -J and such other orders. According to the petitioners, the petitioners are the poor farmers cultivating Sy. No. 2, Sy. No. 55 and Sy. No. 82 of Avaragolla Village, Davanagere Taluk for more than 300 years and the said lands are Government lands. According to them, they have been rending service as Archaks in the three Temples which are situated in the said lands. According to them, the Tahsildar of Davanagers Taluk, after conducting the spot inspection, filed a report to the Deputy Commissioner to the effect that petitioners are in possession of the said lands. The petitioners filed Form No. 7 which came to be rejected on the ground of delay and not on merits.

(2.) THE petitioners also said to have filed Form No. 7 -A before the 3rd respondent. Deputy Commissioner, which is kept in abeyance in view of pendency of the application filed by the 5th respondent -Sangha under Section 63 (7) of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, with regard to ceiling on land holdings.According to the petitioners, they are in possession of the land in question and sought to protect their possession from illegal dispossession. It is their case that pending disposal of Form No. 7 -A before the 3rd respondent, the petitioners are not liable to be evicted. According to them, the impugned orders virtually amounts to transfer of lands in question to the 5th respondent -Sangha, which is impermissible under Section 63 (7) of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act. The 3rd respondent -Deputy Commissioner has ordered for transfer of lands to the 5th respondent -Sangha and also directed the 4th respondent -Tahsildar to take steps in this regard in accordance with law, which amounts to dispossession of the petitioners though their application in Form No. 7 -A is pending consideration before the 3rd respondent. The impugned order at annexure -K is against principles of natural justice and also in violation of Section 39 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964.

(3.) IN annexure -R -9 filed along with the statement of objections by the 5th respondent, the Division Bench of this Court by its order dated 16.11.1995 in W.A. Nos. 794 -796/1992, in respect of Sy. No. 55 of Avaragol1a Village, Davangere, held that in the absence of any grant or sanad or extract of the Register of Inams to indicate that the land was granted as inam to the Deity, the conclusion is inescapable that the land is a private land. Accordingly the order of the Land tribunal rejecting the application on the ground of delay and the order of the learned Single Judge confirming the order of the Land Tribunal were upheld and the writ appeals were dismissed.