( 1 ) THE petitioners in these writ petitions have sought for a direction to the respondent-Special deputy Commissioner to accept the conversion fine as per the rules and issue necessary conversion certificate in favour of the Karnataka Government Class 'd' Employees' House building Cooperative Society Limited. The facts in these writ petitions are as follows. The karnataka Government Class 'd' Employees' House Building Co-operative Society Limited is a society registered under the provisions of Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, 1957. The petitioners in W. P. No. 30444 of 1994 are the owners of the land measuring 122 acres in Survey nos. 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19 and 20 to 27 of Lingadeer-anahalli, Yeshwanthapura Hobli, bangalore North Taluk. The petitioners in W. P. No. 30445 of 1994 are the owners of the land measuring 26 acres, 3 guntas in Survey Numbers 12 (western portion) 35, 36, 37 and 38 of the above said village. The petitioner in W. P. No. 30446 of 1994 is a society in whose favour the petitioners in W. P. Nos. 30444 of 1994 and 30445 of 1994 have executed an agreement of sale agreeing to sell the above said lands and under the said agreement the society was put in possession of the above said lands.

( 2 ) THE society claiming to be in possession of the above said agricultural lands under the agreement of sale made an application to the Special Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore for permission to use the agricultural lands for non-agricultural purpose under Section 95 of the kar-nataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as 'revenue Act') on 27-5-1993. Since the Deputy Commissioner has not passed any order on the above said application within four months from the date of receipt of the application, the petitioners have filed these writ petitions for a direction to issue conversion certificate after accepting the conversion fine on the ground that the permission sought for is deemed to have been granted under Section 95 (5) of the land Revenue Act. The further case of the petitioners is that the said land does not come within the green belt area and therefore, there is no impediment for the Special Deputy Commissioner to issue permission to use the agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose.

( 3 ) THE respondent has filed statement of objection stating that the application filed by the society for permission to use the agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose is not in accordance with law and therefore it is no application for permission in the eye of law. It is further stated that the land in question comes within the green belt area as per Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) published in a Notification No. RDP 124 BAC 90, dated 19-4-1990 and therefore, the lands in question cannot be used for non-agricultural purpose under the provisions of the karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961 (hereafter referred to as 'planning Act' ).

( 4 ) THE first and foremost question to be considered in this writ petition is; whether the society claiming to be in possession of agricultural lands can maintain an application for permission to use agricultural land for non-agricultural purpose under Section 95 of the Revenue Act? Section 95 (2) of the Revenue Act reads as follows. " if any occupant of land assessed or held for the purpose of agriculture wishes to divert such land or any part thereof to any other purpose, he shall notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force apply for permission to the Deputy Commissioner who may, subject to the provisions of this section and the rules made under this Act, refuse permission or grant it on such conditions as he may think fit: provided that the Deputy Commissioner shall not refuse permission for diversion of such land included in the Outline Development Plan or the Comprehensive Development Plan published under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961 (Karnataka Act 11 of 1963), if such diversion is in accordance wi

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