A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam said the land has to be restored to the legal heirs of the original allottees as “in these cases the alienation took place much before completion of the 10 year period.”
Null and void
With the order, the descendants of two SC brothers will get back the land which their forefathers were illegally dispossessed of 41 years ago.
While dismissing the pleas of Kaliyamma and others against the decision of the Deputy Commissioner of Chitradurga district, the court said, “The inevitable conclusion is that the appeals are without merit and deserve dismissal.”
Upholding the decision of the High Court, the bench said, “The finding of the full bench of the Karnataka High Court is that if the grant is made under Rule 43-J, there could not have been any condition restricting the alienation and if at all there were any such conditions they are null and void.”
The Karnataka government had allotted eight acres of land to Rangappa and Nagappa, the sons of Kariyappa belonging to a Scheduled Caste of Chitradurga district in 1957.
The family distributed that land among the family members; Nagappa kept five acres and three acres was given to their relative Budappa. However, before the lapse of the stipulated 10 year mandatory non-alienable period, Budappa sold his share to Thippeeranna on February 3, 1965 and the five acres of Nagappa was acquired by another person on August 15, 1966.
Subsequently, Devraj and Kaliyamma acquired the land on February 23, 1981.
Making it illegal
In the meantime, the Karnataka government enacted the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act in 1979 prohibiting transfer of land of SC and ST people during the non-alienable period.
Rangaswamy and Sanna Kariyamma, claiming to be the legal heirs of Rangappa and Nagappa approached the Deputy Commissioner in 1981 for restoration of eight acres of land, allotted to their ancestors as they had been transferred illegally.
The High Court had directed that before restoring the possession of the land, the district authorities should ensure the authenticity of the claims of the petitioners who claimed to be the bona fide legal heirs of the original beneficiary of the landless backward caste scheme.
“Before actual delivering and restoring possession, the Assistant Commissioner should examine this question and if grantee or heirs are not found in possession, the possession has be restored to them.
If it is not practisable and possible to restore the possession of the granted land to the grantee or his heirs under section 5(1)(b), the late part will automatically stand vested in the government,” the High Court order said.