1. Provisions of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978 (for short, ‘the Act’) while have brought misery, hardship, heartburn and what not to those purchasers who are caught within the mischief of Section 4 of the Act and consequential follow up action in terms of Section 5 of the Act, have nevertheless provided some exit routes to some of those chance purchasers who are not caught within the web of this violation of either under subsection (1) or sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the Act.

2. An examination of the transactions in respect of a granted land under the provisions of the Act is confined to two things. Firstly if the transaction was prior to the Act coming into force, as to whether the transaction was in violation of any of the conditions subject to which land had been granted and secondly if the transaction is subsequent to the Act coming into force, not merely such violation but whether it is accompanied by a prior permission accorded by the State Government in terms of under sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the Act. Therefore, it is clear that in respect of transactions which are prior to the Act