Sellers of Tarabai's Anekal property may have got land illegally

Document says 51 acres granted to 'unauthorised occupants' in 1978

Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav might have stated that his mother bought plots at Ramanayakanahalli near Anekal taluk from those who were granted land by the government in 1978. But doubts are now being raised by a section of revenue officials on the legality of the 1978 grant order.

According to the official memorandum dated September 19, 1978, issued by the then Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district, 51.20 acres of the total 60.36 acres of gomal land available in survey number 29 of Ramanayakanahalli of Sarjapur hobli in Anekal taluk were granted to “unauthorised occupants”. The land was granted to Muniyallappa and 54 others.

But according to official sources, there was no provision in the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 to grant land to encroachers in the year 1978. Section 94 of the Act clearly states that those who unauthorisedly occupy government land should be evicted. The Act also has a provision to impose penalty on encroachers.

The government, in 1991, brought in an amendment to the Act and inserted section 94A, making a provision to regularise certain cases of encroachments. The intention of this amendment was to overcome the legal hurdle the government was facing to regularise or grant land to people who were unauthorisedly occupying government land.

Section 94A specifically states that the competent authority has to first evict the encroachers and hold a case-by-case court hearing before granting the land to “eligible” encroachers.

Arvind Jadhav, who is reportedly facing charges of encroaching government land, has in a press note claimed that his mother, Tarabai Maruthirao Jadhav, purchased lands from those who were granted land through the official memorandum dated September 19, 1978.

Tarabai Jadhav had purchased 14.10 acres land from nine different grantees. The revenue authorities in Bengaluru Urban district reportedly recently tampered with the documents to favour certain private individuals, including Tarabai Jadhav.

The official sources said as the 1978 official memorandum was against the law, the government now has to apply the section 94A in order to legally grant the land to all the 55 grantees at the survey number 29.

And, interestingly, the section 94A also states that no land can be granted within 18 km of the outer boundary of Bengaluru city under the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanaraga Palike). In other words, Ramanayakanahalli is located within 18 km distance of the BBMP limits, the sources explained.