( 1 ) PETITIONER is a person who had filed an application under the provisions of Section 5 of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978 ('the Act' for short), claiming to be a legal heir of an original grantee namely, one Mr. Doddamuniswamy, a person belonging to Scheduled caste and who had been granted an extent of four acres of land in survey No. 107 (Present Sy No. 163) of Pattandur Agrahara of K. R. Puram Hobli, Bangalore East Taluk.

( 2 ) THE land in question appears to have been sold by the said doddamuniswamy on 23-10-1967 in favour of one Era Reddy, who in turn had sold it to others and ultimately is now traceable in the hands of respondents 4 to 6. The petitioner requested the Assistant commissioner to invalidate the transactions as being in violation of the terms of the grant and for restoration of the land to the petitioner. The assistant Commissioner who had issued notice of the application and who had held an enquiry, was of the view that the land in question cannot be termed as a 'granted land' within the meaning of Section 3 (l) (b) of the Act and accordingly rejected the applicat