Bhoo odetan samiti has no suo motu power to cancel registered sale deeds: Karnataka High Court

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has said that the Bhoo Odetan Yojaneya Anusthan Samiti (BOYAS) or the implementation committee under the land ownership scheme, headed by the Deputy Commissioner, has no power to suo motu cancel or annul registered sale deeds.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Poonacha said this while dismissing the writ appeal filed by Ashok and two others, residents of Gabbur village, Hubballi taluk of Dharwad district.

Certain lands owned by three women; Neelavva, Shankaravva, and Paravva, belonging to the Scheduled Tribe category, were a part of the acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act. In light of the acquisition, a decision was taken to rehabilitate all such persons, in all 13 persons belonging to the Schedule Tribe category. It was decided to execute the sale deeds to these three women, two acres each, in Hireharkuni village, Kundagol taluk. Sale deeds were also executed after the women contributed 50% of the consideration by raising a loan from SC/ST Development Corporation Ltd. In the meanwhile, three persons; Ashok, Basavaraj and Siddappa, filed applications claiming entitlement to similar benefits. Based on these applications, the Deputy Commissioner and Chairman of BOYAS, Dharwad, passed a resolution cancelling the sale deeds executed in favour of the three women. This was done with the objective of releasing the land sold to them and apportioning a part of the land in favour of Ashok and two others.

Ashok and two others moved an appeal after a single bench held that the right and title of the three women under the registered sale deed cannot be taken away by the resolution passed by the Deputy Commissioner. The women had argued before the single bench that the BOYAS had no right to cancel the concluded sale transaction.

The division bench noted that the appellants (Ashok and others) failed to show any provision of law that enables the Samiti to cancel the sale deeds. “The title in t he land was conveyed to the three women, and the same cannot be cancelled except in accordance with the law. The Samiti has no power to suo motu cancel or annul registered sale deeds,” the bench said.