SC decides land dispute in favour of University of Mysore

The Supreme Court on Friday decided a dispute over eight acres of land in favour of University of Mysore, holding that the varsity is in its lawful possession.

The matter pertained to donation of 22 acres of land by the Maharaja of Mysore to the President of India for starting Logopedics Institute in 1965.

However, in 1974, Rajaiah and Nanjaiah, having been in possession with regular rental receipts being paid as cultivators since 1950, applied for registration of eight acres of land situated at Kurubarahalli Village, Mysore Taluk after enactment of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961.

In 2004, the Karnataka High Court had dismissed the plea of University over the land on grounds of delay.

In its judgement, a bench of Justices N V Ramana S Abdul Nazeer set aside the orders passed by the Karnataka High Court in 1998 and 2000.

"The HC was not justified in holding that the private respondents are in possession of the lands in question. They do not have title or (neither) are (they) in possession of the said land," the bench said.

Nanjaiah's son Chamundi and others, represented by senior advocates H N Nagmohan Das and Sanjay M Nuli claimed that they had got declaration in their favour and they were in possession of the land.

The varsity represented by senior advocate Guru Krishna Kumar and the state government by Additional Advocate General Devadatt Kamat countered the claim by maintaining that the occupancy rights were made on the basis of forged documents.

The court, however, relied upon an order passed by the Assistant Commissioner on January 20, 2012, clearly showing that the University was in possession of the said land.

The top court directed the High Court to dispose of expeditiously a writ petition by the private parties against the order.

The court also directed Mysuru trial court to quickly decide the criminal case filed against private parties for allegedly creating "bogus" documents.