MALLAMMA Vs. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER HASSAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a peculiar case of legal heirs of a grantee coming to this Court praying for invalidating the order passed by the Deputy Commissioner functioning as an Appellate Authority under the provisions of the karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978, who though found that a granted land had been sold in violation of the terms of the grant and as such the transfer should be invalidated and the lands resumed, nevertheless did not direct restoration of the land in favour of the petitioners/applicantslegal heirs of the original grantee and as such have sought for quashing of this portion of the order with commensurate directions to the Deputy Commissioner.

(2.) INSOFAR as the factual developments leading to the present writ petition are concerned this is not in dispute; that an extent of three acres of land in Sy. No. 14/2 of Kasaba Hobli, Sakleshpur Taluk, Hassan district, had been granted by way of lease for a period of five years in favour of one Komaraiah in terms of a grant of the year dated 8-1-1960. It is such a land that the said Komaraiah under whom the petitioners are claiming interest, appears to have sold the land in terms of a sale deed executed in the year 8-1-1964 in favour of one Achuta Rao S/o. Subbaraya Sharma.

(3.) NOTWITHSTANDING the execution of such a sale deed it appears the grantee continued to remain in possession and the recording of the assistant Commissioner before, whom the petitioners were applicants under the provisions of the Act, shows that even as on 29-11-1997, when the Assistant Commissioner passed orders on their application, petitioners/legal heirs of the original grantee had remained in possession and cultivation of the land in question. This is so observed in terms of the order dated 29-11-1997. Apart of it reads as under:<img>C:\program Files\regentdatatech\image\bn1.jpg</img> <img>C:\program Files\regentdatatech\image\bn2.jpg</img> Petitioners' having filed an application before the Assistant commissioner praying for invalidation of the sale transaction of the year 1964 and for resumption and restoration in their favour, the Assistant commissioner who had enquired into the matter passed the order as extracted above.