SC rejects man's claim over Koramangala land

The Supreme Court rejected a plea of a man claiming ownership over land worth hundreds of crores in Bengaluru's posh Koramangala area, after finding that it was taken over by the state government 77 years ago.

The top court said that the appellants Y P Sudhanva Reddy and others ceased to be its owners and lost all their rights to hold and claim possession over the land — measuring one acre and 27 guntas in Bengaluru South's Koramangala — as it was acquired by the state government in 1941.

A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and Abhay Manohar Sapre held that the suit filed by the appellants seeking a declaration of their title over the land and further claiming permanent injunction against the chairman and managing director of Karnataka Milk Federation was “wholly misconceived and was liable to be dismissed”.

“The landowners, admittedly, did not challenge the validity and correctness of the notifications (under the Land Acquisition Act) and, on the other hand, by suppressing the fact of acquisition proceedings from the court, filed two suits one after the other and claimed title over the suit land,” the court said.

After going through the records, the court also found that the appellants failed to show that they ever challenged the acquisition proceedings.

The milk federation, represented by senior advocate S S Nagananda, submitted that the state government acquired the land a long time back for public purpose and allotted the land to it for a valuable consideration. Since then, they are in possession of the land in their own right and carrying on their business.

The court concurred with the plea of the milk federation. The appellants cannot claim any subsisting right, title and interest in the land on and after 1941 consequent upon issuance of the notifications by the state. The reason was that all the ownership rights of the appellants in the suit land stood vested in the state once the acquisition proceedings were completed.

The top court upheld the order passed by the Karnataka High Court on December 16, 2014. The high court had set aside the findings of the trial court that the appellants were absolute owners of the properties.