LALITHAMMA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ petition has been filed in public interest and calls in question two Government Orders one dated the 4th of Aug. 1984 and the other 25th May, 1987, whereby the Government have in the purported exercise of its powers under Section 20 of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation, Act 1976) exempted land measuring 9.19 Acres underlying Sy. Nos. 105 and 108 of Allalsandra village, G.K.V.K. Post, Yelabanka Hobli, Bangalore North Taluk from the provisions of the Act and permitted the sale thereof by its owner Sri. M.Narayanappa to the 5th Respondent Society. Sale-deed executed in pursuance of the impugned exemption order has also been called in question by the petitioners. The facts are few and may be stated immediately.

(2.) An application was made by the 5th respondent-Society to the Government seeking exemption of the excess land held by Sri. M. Narayanappa from the operation of the Act aforesaid and for permission to sell the same to the said respondent. The Government appears to have considered the request and by an order dated 4th August, 1984 granted the exemption prayed for as also the permission to sell the same, to Respondent No. 5 Society subject to certain conditions. One of the Conditions was that the sale-deed in favour of the 5th Respondent shall be executed within a period of six months from the date of issue of order. A sale-deed it appears was not executed in favour of the Society within the time allowed by the Government, with the result that an application for extension of time up to the end of Dec. 1987 for finalising the sale transactions was made by the owner Sri. M. Narayanappa which request was granted by the Government in terms of its letter dated 26th May, 1987. Consequently, by a sale-deed executed and registered on the 16th of Jan. 1987 the owner, transferred in favour of the 5th Respondent-Society, the land in question measuring 7 Acres and 14 guntas underlying Sy. No.105, and 2 Acres and 5 guntas underlying Sy. No.108, of village Allalsandra, Bangalore North Taluk. It is not in dispute that the Society was put in actual physica1 possession of the lands in question in the year 1984 itself since it has been in actual possession of the same.

(3.) Nearly 10 years after the issue of the order granting exemption in favour of the land owner and nearly 7 years after the 5th Respondent-Society had in consequence of the sale in its favour secured the possession of the land in question, the petitioners have filed the present writ petition challenging the validity of the order passed by the Government as also the sale-deed executed in favour of the 5th Respondent in pursuance of the said orders. The petitioners claim that they are citizens of India and resident of Bangalore but due to exorbitant prices of the real estate and due to their humble station in life have not been able to acquire any house or other property of their own. The claim that the present writ petition has been filed by them in public interest in furtherance of the judgment delivered by the Apex Court in Civil Appeals Nos. 1454-56/1993 reported in AIR 1994 SC 923. They argue that the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in the aforesaid case declares the law in regard to the scope and ambit of Section 20 of the Act and in unmistakable terms hold that the Government has no power to grant exemption under Section 20 of the Act so as to permit the sale of vacant lands in excess of ceiling areas. It is urged that the action taken by the Government besides being ultra vires, unreasonable and arbitrary is opposed to public policy, hence deserve to be struck down and the sale- deed executed in furtherance of the permission granted by the Government held to be legally bad and inoperative.