ALLABAKSHA AND ORS Vs. SAYYAD JAVED PASHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A division bench of this Court has referred this Regular First Appeal to the Full Bench stating that opinion expressed by a co-ordinate bench in the case of SRI CHANDRASHEKHAR AND OTHERS VS. THE TUHEED CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING SOCIETY (REGD.) AND OTHERS, 2008 ILR(Kar) 4003 that no relief of specific performance could be granted in respect of agricultural land due to the prohibition in law for purchase of the same by a non-agriculturist as per section 79-B and Section 80 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961, (for short "the Act") was contrary to four division bench judgments of this Court rendered earlier. The order of reference states that after considering the effect of the provisions of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act including Section 132 thereof which enacts a bar on the Civil Court to decide the issue, four division benches of this Court considered the question whether an intending purchaser of an agricultural land was an agriculturist and specific performance of such agreement of sale could be ordered in the light of the prohibition enacted under Section 79-B and Section 80 of the Land Reforms Act in favour of such intending purchaser and have held that such a question would not arise and the same could not be gone into, but, without considering these judgments a different view was expressed in TUHEED CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING SOCIETY's case.

(2.) Material part of the order of reference is usefully extracted hereunder:

(3.) It is clear that there are four judgments of the division bench in the cases of SHIVANNAPPA SIDRAMAPPA PRANTUR VS. VIRUPAXAPPA ALLAPPA BAGI,1980 ILR(Kar) 702, K.M.JOSE AND OTHERS VS. D.ANANTHA BHAT, 1987 AIR(Kar) 173, MANASA HOUSING CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LTD., VS. MARIKELLAIAH AND OTHERS, 2006 AIR(Kar) 273 and PARVATAGOUDA NINGANAGOUDA PATIL AND OTHERS VS. GUDDAPPA AND ANOTHER, 2009 1 KarLJ 547 which have consistently held that notwithstanding Section 79-B of the Act which prohibits a person other than a person cultivating the land (non-agriculturist) personally to hold any land and the bar contained in Section 80 of the Act which bars transfer of agricultural land in favour of a person who is not an agriculturist, in a suit filed for specific performance based on an agreement of sale in respect of agricultural land, the issue whether the intending purchaser is or is not an agriculturist would not arise and cannot be decided in view of the bar contained in Section 132 of the Act. Section 132 enacts that no civil court shall have jurisdiction to decide or deal with any question which is required to be decided or dealt with by the prescribed authority under Section 83 of the Act.