Karnataka High Court
Saraswati W/O Luma Naik (Since Deceased ... vs The Tahsildar Khanapur on 31 July, 2025
Author: Suraj Govindaraj
Bench: Suraj Govindaraj
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NC: 2025:KHC-D:9462
WP No. 103930 of 2025
HC-KAR
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA, DHARWAD BENCH
DATED THIS THE 31ST DAY OF JULY 2025
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURAJ GOVINDARAJ
WRIT PETITION NO.103930 OF 2025 (KLR-RES)
BETWEEN:
SARASWATI W/O. LUMA NAIK,
(SINCE DECEASED BY HER LRS).
1. SURYAJI S/O. LUMA NAIK,
AGE: 37 YEARS, OCC: AGRICULTURE,
R/O: 257 AMTE, TALUKA: KHANAPUR,
BELAGAVI - 591 345.
3. NARAYAN S/O. LUMA NAIK,
AGE:31 YEARS,
OCC: AGRICULTURE,
R/O: 257 AMTE,
TALUKA: KHANAPUR,
BELAGAVI - 591 345.
3. LUMA S/O. SUKADA NAIK,
AGE: 78 YEARS,
OCC: AGRICULTURE,
R/O: 257 AMTE,
GIRIJA A. TALUKA: KHANAPUR,
BYAHATTI
BELAGAVI - 591 345.
Digitally signed by
GIRIJA A. BYAHATTI ...PETITIONERS
Date: 2025.08.01
15:09:12 +0530
(BY SRI. PRASHANT F. GOUDAR, SRI. ASHRITH PATIL,
SMT. PALLAVI VARDHAMANE &
SMT. SHEETAL V. KILLEKAR, ADVOCATES)
AND:
THE TAHSILDAR, KHANAPUR,
TALUKA KHANAPUR,
DIST: BELAGAVI - 591 302.
...RESPONDENT
(BY SRI. T. HANUMAREDDY, AGA)
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NC: 2025:KHC-D:9462
WP No. 103930 of 2025
HC-KAR
THIS WRIT PETITION IS FILED UNDER ARTICLES 226 AND 227
OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA PRAYING TO ISSUE A WRIT IN THE
NATURE OF CERTIORARI SEEKING THE QUASHING OF THE ORDER
DATED 23.02.2023 BEARING NO. SR. NO. KLR.CR.195/2022-23 VIDE
ANNEXDURE-A TO THE EXTENT OF, RESTRICTING THE PETITIONERS
FROM ALIENATING THE AGRICULTURAL LANDS GRANTED WITHOUT
OBTAINING PERMISSION FROM COMPETENT AUTHORITY AND
FURTHER DIRECTING FOR EFFECTING THE SAID ENTRY IN COLUMN
NO. 11 OF RTC EXTRACT OF SY. NO. 166A/1 SITUATED AT
KHANAPUR, JAMBOTI VILLAGE, BELAGAVI DISTRICT AND ETC.,
THIS WRIT PETITION COMING ON FOR PRELIMINARY HEARING
THIS DAY, ORDER WAS MADE THEREIN AS UNDER:
ORAL ORDER
(PER: THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURAJ GOVINDARAJ)
1. The petitioners are before this Court seeking for the
following reliefs:
i. Issue a Writ in the nature of certiorari
seeking the quashing of the order dated
23.02.2023 bearing no. Sr. No. KLR. CR.
195/ 2022-23 vide Annexdure-A to the
extent of, restricting the petitioners from
alienating the agricultural lands granted
without obtaining permission from
competent authority and further directing for
effecting the said entry in column no. 11 of
rtc extract of SY. No. 16A/1 situated at
Khanapur, Jamboti village, Belagavi District.
ii. Issue any such Order/Writ/direction which
this Hon'ble Court deems fit and necessary
in the interest of justice and equity.
2. The contention of the petitioners is that, one
Sri.Mathru Uma Naik, being a landless labourer, had
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filed an application for grant of 10 acres of land before
the Land Tribunal, Khanapur, in furtherance of the
same, land to an extent of 10 acres in R.S.No.166A/1
of Amate Village of Khanapur Taluk. The purchase
price having been paid on 31.01.1977, an agreement
came to be executed on 03.02.1977 between the
Government and the grantee in respect of payment of
land revenue, insofar as the land is concerned.
3. The original grantee having expired in the year 1982,
leaving behind his daughter Saraswati, wife of Luma
Naik, she filed an application before the authorities to
enter her name in the revenue records, which came to
be entered on 08.12.1982. An application was again
filed by the said Saraswati Naik on 30.01.2022 for
removing the 'new and undivided' clause, being a
condition which had been imposed under column 11.
4. Before the said application was considered, Saraswati,
wife of Luma Naik, expired in the year 2023. The
Revenue Inspector thereafter conducted an enquiry
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and submitted a report on 21.10.2023, stating that
the land is a granted land.
5. The respondent thereafter, on the ground that the
petitioner original grantee belonged to the Scheduled
Tribe community, being of the opinion that land
having been granted to a person belonging to a
Scheduled Tribe, would come within the purview of
the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978
('PTCL Act', for short), imposed a condition of non-
transfer. It is challenging this order that the petitioner
has approached this Court.
6. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the
grant of land in the present matter, not being a grant
in favour of a Scheduled Tribe person, but to a
landless labourer, would not come within the purview
of the PTCL Act, as held by the Full Bench of this Court
in the case of Mohammed Jaffar and another v.
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State of Karnataka1, which has been followed in
various judgments.
7. Learned AGA, however, seeks to support the order.
8. Heard Sri.Prashant F. Goudar, learned counsel for the
petitioners and Sri. T. Hanumareddy, learned AGA for
the respondent. Perused the papers.
9. It is clear from the grant which has been made that
the grant was to a landless labourer under Section
77(1)(iii) of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961,
by the Land Tribunal, on an application having been
made. Merely because the petitioner original grantee
belongs to the Scheduled Tribe would not make the
grant amenable to the PTCL Act. It is only if a grant is
made under a particular enactment contemplated
under the PTCL Act that the said PTCL Act would
apply, and not otherwise.
10. In that view of the matter, I pass the following:
ILR 2002 KAR 4693
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ORDER
i. Writ Petition is allowed.
ii. A writ of certiorari is issued, order dated
23.02.2023 bearing No.Sr.No.KLR:CR:195/2022-
23 at Annexure-A is quashed.
iii. The condition imposed in the order dated
23.02.2023 at Annexure-A, imposing an obligation
on the petitioner to obtain permission from the
competent authority before the alienation of the
property, and the entry made in column No.11 of
the RTC in respect thereof, is quashed.
iv. The respondent is directed to delete the said
entries, if any, and issue fresh RTC to the
petitioners.
SD/-
(SURAJ GOVINDARAJ)
JUDGE
gab
CT-ASC
