Vikramajit Sen, Chief Justice

1. In W.P.No.28263/2004 the learned Single Judge was called upon to decide the question whether a grant of land made to a person whose caste was included in the list of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes subsequent to the Presidential Notification of the year 1950 would nevertheless come within the purview of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act 1977 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the PTCL Act’ for the sake of brevity) which became operational on 01.01.1979.

2. The learned Single Judge had analyzed the decision in Obalegappa Versus the Deputy Commissioner ILR 1999 KAR 372 delivered by a Single Bench, as also the three Division Bench judgment in Krishnappa Versus State of Karnataka ILR 1982 KAR 1310, Mahalingappa Versus The Assistant Commissioner, Tarikere, WA No.2807/1991 decided on 07.11.1995 (unreported) and T.M. Rangaiah Versus Assistant Commissioner Tiptur ILR 2002 KAR 1987. Confronted with conflicting views in the opinion of the Division Benches, the learned Single Judge referred the writ petition before him to a Division Bench, purportedly under Section 9 of the High Court of K