KOTI SRINIVASACHAR Vs. LAND TRIBUNAL HARPANAHALLI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is the owner of two lands bearing Sy. Nos.82 and 89/A of Harapanahalli village. Respondent 2 applied to the Land Tribunal constituted under S.48 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') as amended by Act 1 of 1974 requesting it to declare that he was the tenant in possession of the said lands and that he was entitled to be registered as an occupant. Pursuant to the said application, notice was issued by the Tribunal to the petitioner under S 48 (A) (2) of the Act to show cause as to why action should not be taken on the application made by respondent 2.

(2.) At the hearing of the case before the Tribunal one Mr B P , an Advocate by profession filed a power-of-attorney executed by the petitioner before, the Tribunal .and requested the Tribunal to permit him to act as agent of the petitioner, in that case. The Tribunal declined to entertain the power-of-attorney filed by Mr.B.P. and to permit him to conduct the case as the agent of the petitioner. It was of the opinion that sub-sec(8) of S.48 of the Act prohibited a legal practitioner from appearing before the Tribunal and conducting cases oh behalf of the litigants, even though they may be his friends, armed with powers-of-attorney executed by them.

(3.) In this writ petition, the petitioner has questioned the correctness of the order of the Tribunal and sought for the issue of a direction to the Tribunal to permit Mr.B.P. to conduct the case before it on his behalf in the capacity of an agent.