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Civil Appeal Nos. 3037, 3038, 3049, 3040-3047/2007, 3050, 3941-3953/2007, Civil Appeal No. 1477 of 2010 (Arising out of SLP (C) No. 18843/2007), Civil Appeal No. 1478 of 2010 (Arising out of SLP (C) No. 18845/2007) and Civil Appeal No. 1479 of 2010 (Arising out of SLP (C) No. 18846/2007). Case: S. Nagaraj (dead) by LRs. and Ors. Vs B.R. Vasudeva Murthy and Ors. etc.. Supreme Court (India)

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Case NumberCivil Appeal Nos. 3037, 3038, 3049, 3040-3047/2007, 3050, 3941-3953/2007, Civil Appeal No. 1477 of 2010 (Arising out of SLP (C) No. 18843/2007), Civil Appeal No. 1478 of 2010 (Arising out of SLP (C) No. 18845/2007) and Civil Appeal No. 1479 of 2010 (Arising out of SLP (C) No. 18846/2007)
JudgesDalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik, JJ.
IssueMysore (Personal and Miscellaneous) Inam Abolition Act, 1954 - Sections 1(4), 3(1), 9, 10 and 10(3); Karnataka Inam Abolition Laws (Amendment Act), 1979; Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 - Sections 48, 63(7), 79A, 79B, 80 and 81; Contract Act - Section 23; Uttar Pradesh (Temporary) Control of Rent and Eviction Act, 1947 - Section 3; ...
Citation2010 (2) SCALE 232, (2010) 3 SCC 353
Judgement DateFebruary 08, 2010
CourtSupreme Court (India)

Judgment:

A.K. Patnaik, J.

  1. Permission to file Special Leave Petition (C) Nos. 18843/2007 and 18846/2007 granted. Delay condoned and leave granted in the Special Leave Petitions. We also condone the delay in filing the applications for substitution and allow the applications for substitution. We also allow the applications for impleadment.

  2. These Civil Appeals are directed against the common judgment dated 22.12.2006 of the Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka in a batch of Writ Petitions in relation to 34 acres and 3 guntas of Inam land in Bangalore District which was allotted by the State Government to an association of teachers for construction of houses and for which the Bangalore Development Authority has sanctioned a lay out plan. The Bangalore Development Authority has filed Civil Appeal No. 3037/2007, the legal representatives of Inamdars have filed Civil Appeal No. 3038/2007, the Teachers' Colony Residents Association has filed Civil Appeal No. 3049/2007 and several owners of the house sites have filed the remaining Civil Appeals.

    Facts

  3. The relevant facts briefly are that the Mysore (Personal & Miscellaneous) Inam Abolition Act, 1954 (for short `the Inam Abolition Act') was enacted for abolition of personal Inams and other miscellaneous Inams in the State of Mysore, except Bellari District. On the Inam Abolition Act coming into force on 1.2.1959, all rights, title and interests vested in the Inamdars ceased and vested absolutely in the State of Mysore free from all encumbrances. Every Inamdar, however, was entitled to be registered as an occupant of land and could make an application before the Special Deputy Commissioner, Inam Abolition, for such registration as an occupant.

  4. Sreenivasa Rao and Babu Rao, two Inamdars, filed applications for registration as occupants in respect of some lands in Survey Nos. 45 and 47 of Jakkasandra village, Bangalore South Taluk. When these applications were pending before the Special Deputy Commissioner, Kendra Upadhyayara Sangha (for short `the Sangha'), an association of teachers, applied for grant of land for house sites to its members and the Special Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore District, proposed grant of land measuring 34 acres 3 guntas in Survey Nos. 45 and 47 of Jakkasandra village in favour of the Sangha. The Divisional Commissioner, Bangalore, while recommending the proposal of the Special Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore District, for grant of the land in favour of the Sangha, reported that the land in question was a Devadaya Inam Land in respect of which applications for occupancy rights were still pending settlement before the Special Deputy Commissioner, Inam Abolition. The Government of Karnataka in the Revenue Department by an order dated 15.6.1979 accorded sanction for grant of the land measuring 34 acres 3 guntas out of Survey Nos. 45 and 47 of Jakkasandra village in favour of the General Secretary of the Sangha for providing house sites to the Members of the Sangha subject to the decision in the dispute pending before the Special Deputy Commissioner, Inam Abolition. The Government also fixed a price of Rs. 10,000/- per acre amounting to Rs. 3,40,750/- for grant of the land and a conversion fine of Rs. 4,000/- per acre in its order dated 15.06.1979 and the amounts were deposited by the Sangha.

  5. On 4.8.1979, Sreenivasa Rao filed O.S. No. 687/1979 in the Civil Court, Bangalore, questioning the grant made by the State Government in favour of the Sangha and praying for a decree of permanent injunction against the Sangha in respect of the land. On 1.11.1980, however, Sreenivasa Rao and Babu Rao entered into an agreement with the Sangha to withdraw the suit on receipt of Rs. 2,000/- per acre in respect of 34 acres and 3 guntas of land in addition to the amount of Rs. 3,40,750/- deposited by the Sangha towards the price of the entire land with the Government. Accordingly, on 8.11.1980 Sreenivasa Rao filed a memo in the Court saying that he does not want to press O.S. No. 687/1979 as the suit has been settled out of court and on 10.11.1980 the Principal Munsif, Bangalore, dismissed the suit as not pressed.

  6. In the meanwhile, the Karnataka Inam Abolition Laws (Amendment Act) 1979 amended the Inam Abolition Act providing that the Tribunal constituted under Section 48 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 (for short `the Tribunal') instead of the Special Deputy Commissioner, Inam Abolition, will decide the claims for occupancy rights under the Inam Abolition Act. Thereafter, the Tribunal by its order dated 23.6.1982 passed in Case No. I.R.F. INA 419/1979-80 decided the claims of Sreenivasa Rao and Babu Rao for occupancy rights in respect of the land and ordered the confirmation of the occupancy rights in the suit land in favour of Sreenivasa Rao and Babu Rao jointly. Pursuant to the order dated 26.6.1982 of the Tribunal, Sreenivasa Rao and Babu Rao withdrew the amount of Rs. 3,40,750/- deposited with the Government by the Sangha. During the years 1982 to 1990, the Sangha got the layout plan of the land of 34 acres 3 guntas allotted to the Sangha sanctioned from the Bangalore Development Authority (for short the `BDA') and allotted sites to its members and the members of the Sangha built houses on some of these sites and some members also transferred their house sites to others.

  7. In the year 1990, however, Nagaraj, Venkojirao and Narhari, the legal representatives of Sreenivasa Rao filed W.P. No. 11412/1990 in the Karnataka High Court challenging the order dated 15.6.1979 of the State Government of Karnataka granting the land in favour of the Sangha. On 8.7.1992, the legal representatives of Sreenivas Rao, namely, Nagaraj, Venkojirao and Narhari also filed the suit O.S. No. 4349/1992 for declaring the grant of the aforesaid land in favour of the Sangha as null and void and for declaring all acts of the BDA sanctioning the layout in respect of the suit land in favour of the Sangha as illegal and for delivery of vacant possession of the suit land to them. On 17.6.1995, the three legal representatives of Sreenivasa Rao filed a memo in the Court of Additional Civil Judge, Bangalore, for withdrawal of the suit O.S. No. 4349/1992 and on 24.9.1995 the suit was dismissed as withdrawn by the Court. On 28.6.1996, W.P. No. 11412/1990 was dismissed by the learned Single Judge of the Karnataka High Court. Nagaraj, Venkojirao and Narhari, however, filed Writ Appeal No. 7574/1996 against the order passed by the learned Single Judge but the Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court by its order dated 15.9.1998 after deciding various issues raised by the parties dismissed the writ appeal. Nagaraj and Narhari then filed SLP (C) No. 2833/1999 against the order dated 15.9.1998 passed by the Division Bench before this Court and on 9.4.1999 this Court, without issuing notice in the SLP and while disposing of the SLP, made observations that if the proceedings pending before the Special Deputy Commissioner with regard to the claim of Inamdars have ended in favour of the petitioners who have filed the SLP, it will be open to them to approach the State Government for modification of the order granting land to the Sangha. The Teachers' Colony Residents Association (for short the `Association') which was impleaded as respondent No. 5 in SLP(C) 2833/1999 filed an application before this Court for recalling the order dated 9.4.1999, but this Court in its order dated 28.8.2000 in SLP(C) 2833/1999 observed that there was nothing adverse to respondent No. 5- Society and accordingly dismissed the application for recalling.

  8. Thereafter, on 6.8.2002 the State Government of Karnataka directed the Special Commissioner to acquire 14 sites in the layout developed by the Association with a further direction to the Special Deputy Commissioner to allot 14 sites to the family members of the Inamdars. The owners of the 14 sites filed W.P. Nos. 32462-473/2002 in the Karnataka High Court, challenging the order dated 6.8.2002 of the State Government and by an order dated 28.11.2002 the learned Single Judge of the High Court allowed the Writ Petitions and remitted the matter to the State Government with the direction to comply with the order dated 9.4.1999 of this Court after hearing the petitioners and the respondents in the writ petitions and any other person interested in the matter. The legal representatives of the Inamdars also filed Writ Petition Nos. 39046-48/2002 seeking deletion of a condition of the grant made in their favour, but on 9.1.2003 they withdrew the writ petitions as not pressed. The State Government of Karnataka by its order dated 10.2.2003 then directed the Special Deputy Commissioner to stop construction on the land in dispute till disposal of the final proceedings and this order dated 10.2.2003 was challenged before the Karnataka High Court in W.P. No. 8551/2003, but by an order dated 6.3.2003 the High Court while dismissing the writ petitions directed the State Government to decide the matter within two months. The Special Deputy Commissioner then submitted his report to the Statement Government on 28.5.2003 and when the State Government did not pass any order in compliance of the order of this Court in SLP(C) 2833/1999, the Inamdars filed I.A. No. 3 in the aforesaid SLP alleging contempt and this Court issued notice in the I.A. on 8.9.2003.

  9. The Minister, Revenue, Government of Karnataka, then passed the order on 22.12.2003 directing that:

    (a) The vacant civic amenity sites to an extent of 2 acres 34 guntas available be handed over to the Inamdars free of cost.

    (b) The land which is utilized by the BDA for formation of the ring road has to be acquired by the BDA and the compensation paid as this was private property.

    (c) The vacant 182 sites which were available as on the day of the inspection by the Special Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore, on 28.5.2003 would be transferred to the Inamdars or if the same was not...

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