Laxman vs The Land Tribunal

S.N. Satyanarayana, J.—These writ petitions are filed by the persons who are impleaded as respondents in a proceedings before the land Tribunal, Belgaum in Belgaum/SR-318A + 602 with reference to the land bearing Sy. No. 552 situated in Belgaum Village, Belgaum Taluk and District measuring to an extent of 6 acres 37 guntas. The said land was the property of one Bharamanna as propositus of his joint family. It is admitted that, Bharamanna had four sons by name, Dundappa, Khandu, Omanna and Bhimanna. Out of that, only second son Khandu who had children and other three died issueless. The said Khandu is said to have sired a son by name Yallappa, who in turn had five children, namely, Nilkanth, Krishnabai, Vishnu, Ananth and Gopal. In the present proceedings, the dispute is concentrated between the legal representatives of Nilkanth, who died in the year 1960 and the legal representatives of Vishnu.

Sofar as the land bearing Sy. No. 552 is concerned, an application in form No. 7 was filed by one Mayappa Balappa Patil on 26.08.1974. In the said application, he had sought for occupancy rights in respect of two properties, one in land bearing Sy. No. 552 i.e., the subject matter of present writ petitions measuring to an extent 6 acres 37 guntas and another property in the same vicinity and village bearing Sy. No. 551 measuring 2 acres. Admittedly, the application in form No. 7 came to be allowed on 14.09.1981 granting occupancy rights in favour of the applicant Mayappa Balappa Patil.

The said order of land Tribunal was subject matter of a writ petition in W.P. No. 6236/1982 filed by one Smt. Shantabai the daughter of Nilkanth and wife of Krishna Tahasildar. The said petition in W.P. No. 6236/1982 was subsequently transferred to the Land Reforms Appellate Authority, Belgaum (for short ''LRAA'') wherein the same was renumbered as LRA No. 434/1986. Subsequently, after the abolition of the Appellate Authority, the petitioner filed a civil petition in C.P. No. 8778/1991. The said petition was converted into W.P. No. 13382/1994 and came to be allowed by order dated 05.01.2005 in setting aside the order dated 14.09.1981 passed by the land Tribunal and remanded the matter to the land Tribunal to reconsider the prayer of tenants for issue of occupancy rights with reference to the land bearing Sy. No. 552 measuring 6 acres 37 guntas.

It is seen that, when the said proceeding was pending before the land Tribunal in proceeding No. Belgaum/SR-318A + 602, the parallel proceedings with reference to the right of the parties i.e., right of the legal heirs of deceased Yallappa was commenced in a suit filed for partition in O.S. No. 56/1973 before the Belgaum Court. It is seen that O.S. No. 56/1973 is filed by Vishnu, Yallappa''s third son against the wife and children of his elder brother Nilkant and also against his other two brothers Arrant and Gopal. In the said suit, in addition to other properties of the family, the property in question in the aforesaid proceedings, for which Mayappa Balappa Patil staking claim was also included. The said suit for partition was allowed granting 1/4th share each to Nilkant, Vishnu, Anant and Gopal in respect of all the properties of Yallappa who is the grandson of original propositus Bharamanna. It is seen that the said judgment and decree passed in O.S. No. 56/1973 was the subject matter of two first appeals in RFA Nos. 340/1982 and 369/1982. Both the first appeals came to be dismissed on 24.01.1983 and 13.12.1984 respectively, thereby the judgment and decree passed in O.S. No. 56/1973 was confirmed. Pursuant to that, it is stated that, a final decree proceeding was commenced in FDP No. 20/1984, which ended in final decree being drawn on 22.03.1994. As against that, execution petition also initiated in E.P. No. 216/1994, in which all the properties of the said suit was divided among four children of Yallappa, except land bearing Sy. No. 552, which was the subject matter of form No. 7 filed by Mayappa Balappa Patil.

It is stated that, subsequently, another suit was initiated by the petitioners herein in O.S. No. 739/2004 seeking declaration that the order passed by the land Tribunal in respect of land bearing Sy. No. 552 is not binding on the petitioners. It is stated that the said suit was dismissed on 24.02.2010, against which, appeal in R.A. No. 39/2010 was filed by them, which came to be ''allowed on 20.11.2012 and the matter was remanded for fresh consideration to the Court of Civil Judge (Jr.Dn.), Belgaum. It is stated that, against the said order dated 20.11.2012, a miscellaneous second appeal is filed in MSA No. 100065/2014, which is stated to be pending on the file of this Court, which is with reference to the proceedings in O.S. No. 739/2004.

When the matter stood thus, an application was filed by the petitioners herein in the pending proceedings in Belgaum/SR-318-1-692 seeking to come on record as parties in the said proceedings to reconsider the grant of occupancy rights in favour of Mayappa Balappa Patil, since deceased by his LRS. It is stated that the said application is taken up for consideration and the order reads like this.

"Case called. Counsel for A & R present. Meanwhile, third party filed an application to implead, application of third party is carried, after the decision of the tribunal, kept for evidence. Kept for further inquiry on 05.10.2012".

With this, it is seen that the application filed by the petitioners herein to get themselves impleaded in the aforesaid proceedings before the land Tribunal was considered.

However, it is stated that, before any enquiry could be conducted in the said proceedings, a settlement is arrived at between respondent Nos. 2 to 7 who are children of Mayappa Balappa Patil and respondent No. 9 - Smt. Shantabai, who initiated the proceedings in W.P. No. 6236/1982, which was subsequently converted into LRA No. 434/86 and later on W.P. No. 13382/1994 and the said Shantabai is none other than the daughter of Nilkant Naik, i.e. the first son of Yellappa. Admittedly, the said Shantabai is also one of the defendant in O.S. No. 56/1973, which was filed for the relief of partition. The said settlement is arrived at on 12.02.2013 pursuant to a board application filed by Shantabai respondent No. 9 herein. Along with, it is stated that, she has given consent for reconfirmation of tenancy rights in respect of land bearing Sy. No. 552 measuring to an extent of 6 acres 37 guntas. It is seen that the said consent letter is taken on record along with board application and the matter is advanced and the proceedings in Belgaum/SR-318A + 602 is allowed by order dated 12.02.2013 in confirming the tenancy rights in favour of the original applicant before the land Tribunal, namely, Mayappa Balappa Patil, thereby confirmed the order of land Tribunal in granting occupancy rights in respect of the aforesaid land in favour of Mayappa Balappa Patil, as it was done on 14.09.1981, which order is subject to challenge in these writ petitions.

In this proceedings, a registered agreement is also produced to demonstrate that, subsequent to the settlement arrived at between the legal heirs of Mayappa Balappa Patil, applicant before the land Tribunal and respondent No. 9-Shantabai has agreed to sell the property in question in favour of one Dinesh Premjibhai Patel for valuable consideration of Rs. 34,62,500/- and received Rs. 34,62,000/- and the balance of Rs. 500/- to be paid at the time of registration. With this, an attempt is made by the petitioners to demonstrate that in spite of there being a decree in O.S. No. 56/1973 granting 1/4th share to the petitioners herein, who are wife and children of Vishnu Naik, Vishnu Naik''s elder brother''s daughter Shantabai has played a trick behind the back of the petitioners in advancing the proceedings before the land Tribunal and got the same settled with respondent Nos. 2 to 7 herein. If this is accepted, then nothing survives for Shantabai to deal with this property. However, the agreement of sale dated 03.12.2012 registered in the office of the Sub-Registrar, Belgaum vide document No. 10301/2012 and 2013 in book No. 1 of the said office would indicate that there is probability of some understanding between respondent No. 9-Shantabai and respondent Nos. 2 to 7 with respect to the said property, which has resulted in the settlement being arrived at in the aforesaid proceedings before the land Tribunal.

In this proceeding, except respondent No. 8 & respondent No. 9-Smt. Shantabai, all other respondents are duly served. Since the fraud is seen apparent on the face of the record, this Court feel, it is not necessary to wait for service of notice to respondent Nos. 8 and 9. It is just and proper to recall the order impugned and remand the matter to the land Tribunal to hear all the parties and decide whether the settlement was arrived with the knowledge of all the parties to the proceedings, having intimated the same.

In that view of the matter, this Court feel that settlement arrived at between respondent Nos. 2 to 7 and respondent No. 9 on 12.02.2013 is against the interest of petitioner Nos. 1 to 5 in this proceeding. Accordingly, the said order dated 12.02.2013 in respondent No. 9 accepting the confirmation of tenancy rights in favour of Mayappa Balappa Patil, pursuant to the order dated 14.09.1981 is hereby recalled and the proceeding in Belgaum/SR - 318A + 602 is restored to the file of the land Tribunal, Belgaum with a clear direction to land Tribunal, to issue notice to Shantabai and others after securing presence of all the parties, to hold an enquiry regarding tenancy rights of Mayappa Balappa Patil with reference to the aforesaid land and thereafter pass order on form No. 7 on its merit. With these observations, these petitions are disposed of.