The petitioner claims to be the owner of the land

bearing Sy.No.30/1 of Yetagadapalli Village, Kasaba Hobli,

Bagepalli Taluk, Chikkaballapura District. The petitioner,

his mother and brother sought conversion of the aforesaid

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land for non-agricultural residential purposes, which was

granted in terms of an Official Memorandum dated

08.01.1999. Consequent to such conversion, a residential

layout was formed in terms of a layout plan that was

approved by the Panchayath. The petitioner was one of

the applicants for allotment of a retail petroleum outlet

pursuant to a Notification issued by the Indian Oil

Corporation for establishment of a retail outlet at Bagepalli

(between National Highway - 7 junction to KSRTC Bus

Stand). The Indian Oil Corporation had accepted the

application of the petitioner and granted permission in

terms of an order dated 19.08.2019 for establishment of a

petroleum outlet in Sy.No.30/1 of Yetagadapalli village.

Following the above, the Indian Oil Corporation issued a

plan of the structures and facilities to be installed and

provided. The Indian Oil Corporation mandated that the

space utilized for establishment of the outlet should be

converted for commercial purposes. Consequently, the

petitioner submitted an application on 04.09.2019 to the

respondent No.5 - Deputy Commissioner for conversion of

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15 guntas of land in Sy.No.30/1 for commercial purposes.

The petitioner was directed to obtain necessary 'No

Objection Certificates' from various authorities, which were

furnished. However, the respondent No.5 did not consider

the application, which compelled the petitioner to submit

another application on 02.12.2019. The respondent No.5

did not take any steps even after all the requisite

documents were received. The petitioner got the land

surveyed for fixation of the boundaries of the area to be

utilized for the purpose of the establishment of the

petroleum outlet.

The petitioner claims that in view of Section

95(5) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964,

(henceforth referred to as "KLR Act of 1964" for short), the

application of the petitioner must have been considered

within four months. As no steps were taken to consider the

application of the petitioner, he filed W.P.No.12266/2020,

which was disposed off on 04.11.2020, directing the

respondent No.5 to consider the application within an outer

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limit of eight weeks. The respondent No.5 issued an

endorsement dated 22.12.2020 holding that the land

bearing Sy.No.30/1 was converted for residential use, out

of which, 15 guntas was sought to be converted for

commercial use. It was stated that the property lay

adjacent to the State Highway and therefore, the land

lying within 40 meters from the center of the road should

be kept vacant and only land measuring 30 meters x 30

meters has to be utilized for commercial purposes. It was

also held that some residential buildings were put up in 3

acres 25 guntas and therefore, the conversion sought for,

by the petitioner for commercial purposes cannot be

granted in view of the report submitted by the respondent

No.4. The petitioner contends that the respondent No.4

had submitted its report on 23.10.2019 pointing out that it

is not appropriate to grant conversion from residential to

commercial use as a residential layout was already formed,

where houses were constructed.

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The learned counsel for the petitioner contends

that the Executive Engineer of PWD, Chikkaballapur, had

indicated in terms of his letter dated 24.01.2019 that the

permission can be granted for establishing a petrol bunk

subject to the petitioner setting apart 40 meters from the

center of the road as "no construction zone". He further

contended that a circular was issued by the Public Works

Department on 23.01.2014 indicating the area to be

reserved from the center of road for the purposes of

establishment of a petroleum outlet. In response to an

information sought for, by the petitioner's family members,

the concerned officer of the Public