ORDER :

R. DEVDAS, J.

The petitioner is before this Court aggrieved by the orders dated 10.12.2004 passed by the Assistant Commissioner and the appellate authority-Deputy Commissioner who dismissed the appeal filed by the petitioner by order dated 20.05.2017.

2. At the outset, the learned Counsel for the private respondents submits that the writ petition deserves to be rejected on the ground that the petitioner filed the application under Section 5 of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the PTCL Act, 1978) after an enormous delay of more than 17 years after the Act came into force. The learned Counsel submits that in terms of the decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the cases of Nekkanti Rama Lakshmi Vs State of Karnataka and Another, reported in 2017 SCC Online SC 1862 and Vivek M. Hinduja and others Vs. M. Ashwatha and others, reported in 2018 (1) Kar. L.R. 176 (SC), the writ petition may be dismissed by holding that the application filed by the petitioner before the Assistant Commissioner is hit by the principles of delay and laches as enunciated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

3. Lea