Yellappa and Others vs Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka

Chandrashekaraiah, J.—The petitioners in this petition have challenged the order of the State Government dated 5-6-1996 according permission to sell in so far as it related to imposition of conditions to pay 50% of the market value as required under Rule 9 of the Karnataka Land Grant Rules.

The petitioners in this petition belong to schedule caste. They were granted certain extent of land under the Karnataka Land Grant Rules. It appears, in order to purchase some other land, as the present land granted in favour of the petitioners is useless for cultivation, made an application to the Deputy Commissioner for permission to sell. The Deputy Commissioner forwarded the said application to the State Government, since u/s 4(2) of the Karnataka Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands Act), The Government is conferred with the power to accord permission to transfer the land. Section 4(2) of the Act reads as follows;-

"No person shall after the commencement of this Act, transfer or acquire by transfer, any granted land without the previous permission of the State Government."

From the reading of the above said section it is clear that, no person shall transfer the granted land, without the prior permission of the State Government. At the same time, Rule 9(1) of the Karnataka Land Grant Rules, 1969, confers power on the Deputy Commissioner to permit the grantee to alienate the granted land, if he is satisfied that the alienation is for the purpose of acquiring other land or for improving the remaining land and in the event such permission is granted the grantee shall credits fifty percent of the market value of such alienation to the State Government, as determined by the Deputy Commissioner.

The Learned Counsel for the petitioners contended that when an application is filed for permission u/s 4(2) of the Act, the State Government has no authority to direct the petitioners to pay 50% of the market value. There is some substance in this contention since Section 4(2) of the Act confers power on the State Government to grant permission for the purpose of alienating the land without insisting the grantee to pay 50% of the market value. This permission by the Government will not dispense with application of Rule 9 of the Land Grant Rules. Under the above said Rule the grantee is liable to pay 50% of the market value if the grantee intends to transfer the land. In this case the Deputy Commissioner has referred this application to the State Government for consideration u/s 4(2) of the Act. The State Government accorded permission with a condition that the grantee shall pay 50% of the market value in view of the statutory obligation on the grantee to pay 50% of the market value under Rule 9 of the Land Grant Rules. This obligation or condition to pay 50% of the market vale under the Rules, is with a view to prevent the grantees from alienating the property as the grantees are generally belong to poorer section and are easily amenable to exploitation by rich class of the Society. Under these circumstances, the State Government is right in calling upon the petitioners to pay 50% of the market value which is a statutory obligation under Rule 9(1) of the Rules. Hence, I find no substance t in this contention .

Accordingly, this petition is rejected.