'It was a daylight dacoity on lands of poor farmers,' Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has upheld the denotification of 36 guntas of land in Devarabeesanahalli village, Bengaluru South taluk, which was acquired and allotted by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) in favour of Royal Fragrances Private Limited, a New Delhi-based company.

“It was a daylight dacoity on the lands of the poor farmers by the state authorities in favour of land sharks. No person can be deprived of his property without due process of law and that too, the property can be acquired only for the public purpose,” a division bench comprising Justices DK Singh and Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju said while allowing the appeal filed by the landowners.

The landowners, Patel Jetalal Ramaji and his family members, had purchased 36 guntas of land in survey number 10/2 (23 guntas) and survey number 10/3 (13 guntas) in January 2000 which was acquired in 2004 to set up a software park. Based on a report that certain firms with no experience either in software production or computer related production field were allotted lands, the state government denotified 36 guntas of land in May 2009.

On March 6, 2013, a single bench allowed the petition filed by Royal Fragrances Private Limited and quashed the denotification order.

The division bench perused the entire material placed in respect of acquisition and allotment of 150 acres of lands in Kariyammanna Agrahara and Devarabesanahali Villages.

The bench cited a 2004 report by the Chief Executive Officer of the KIADB to the Principal Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries. The report stated that five entities; Vikas Telecom Limited, Royal Fragrances Pvt. Ltd, Premel Project Pvt. Ltd, Supreme Build Cap Pvt. Ltd and Adarsha Prime Project Pvt. Ltd had no earlier experience or expertise and there is no evidence that they are running such industries.

The report also stated that the three firms; Vikas Telecom, Supreme Build-cap and Royal Fragrances belonged to the same set of Directors represented by Mithilesh Kumar Tripati and Santhosh Garg.

The bench further noted that as per the memorandum of association, Royal Fragrances in fact was into production of gutka. The bench said such an application ought to have been thrown in the dustbin but was acted upon with alacrity.

“On the said application, the entire State machinery was put into high-speed motion to acquire the land for such an applicant. The real purpose of the land acquisition for the said company was not the industrial development in the State, but to put the valuable assets for meagre amount in their hands to develop the real estate for residential and commercial purposes,” the division bench said.

The bench further observed that the KIADB's benevolence towards the company can be measured from the fact that it allotted 29 acres and 7.5 guntas of land as against the company’s proposal for 12 acres.

The bench also noted that except for certain information, the company’s application was incomplete.

“The concept of 'eminent domain' is the State's sovereign power to compulsorily take private property for public use and public purposes. However, this power has to be exercised only for the public purpose subject to the constitutional limits. The State cannot acquire the property of the private people to create the wealth in an illegal, arbitrary and mala fide manner in favour of the private individuals without there being any public purpose,” the bench said.