This appeal is preferred against the order passed in

W.P.No.14199/2005 dated 17.09.2014.

The parties are referred to by their ranks in the

writ petition.

The writ petition was filed assailing the order

dated 21.04.2005 passed by the Deputy Commissioner,

Haveri District, who has confirmed the order passed by the

Assistant Commissioner, Haveri on 05.05.2003. The order

of the Assistant Commissioner was passed under the

provisions of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and

Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands)

Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘PTCL Act’ for

short) whereby the Assistant Commissioner allowed the

application seeking to restore the lands holding that the

same as in violation of Section 4 of the PTCL Act. The said

order

came

to

be

challenged

before

the

Deputy

Commissioner by way of an appeal, which came to be

dismissed. Aggrieved by the same, writ petition in

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W.P.No.14199/2005 came to be filed, which was disposed

off on 17.09.2014 whereby the writ petition was allowed

and the impugned orders were set aside.

It must be noted here that the subject matter

of the proceedings was Sy.No.45 measuring 3 acres 8

guntas and Sy.No.46 measuring 28 acres 14 guntas

situated at Medleri village, Ranebennur Taluk, Haveri

District. Insofar as Sy.No.45 is concerned, the said lands

were tenanted lands and occupancy rights were granted

by the Land Tribunal on 13.01.1977 to one Siddappa

Pujar, which order has attained finality.

Insofar as Sy.No.46 is concerned, the said land

was re-granted under the provisions of Karnataka Village

Offices Abolition Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the

‘KVOA Act’ for short) and came to be sold in various

parcels on 01.08.1966 (8 acres); 10.08.1966 (3 acres);

30.10.1968 (6 acres); 14.08.1979 (4.05 acres) and

07.11.1970 (4 acres). The sale transactions were in favour

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of the petitioners by the father of respondent Nos.4 to 10

namely, Vasant Kale.

The

learned

single

Judge

after

detailed

consideration has held that lands in Sy.Nos.45 and 46 do

not come within the purview of granted lands and hence,

the provisions of PTCL Act does not apply. It is noticed

that, insofar as Sy.No.45 is concerned, occupancy rights

were granted under the provisions of the Land Reforms

Act

and

the

learned

single

Judge

after

detailed

consideration held

that tenancy rights by

way of

occupancy rights does not come within the provisions of

granted lands and accordingly, is not hit by the embargo

of the PTCL Act. It was held that, the Land Tribunal

granted occupancy rights under the provisions of the Land

Reforms Act and such an order cannot be constructed to

be a ‘transfer’ within the meaning of the PTCL Act.

Insofar as Sy.No.46 is concerned, it has been

held that PTCL Act, excludes grant of land related to

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hereditary offices or rights in the light of the special

enactment that takes care of such lands namely KOVA Act.

Insofar as survey No.45 is concerned, the

occupancy

rights

have

been

granted

which

is

a

declaration of a pre-existing right and such conferment of

occupancy rights do not fall within the ambit of granted

lands under the PTCL Act. This is also the position of law

as declared in the case of Mohammed Jaffar and

another Vs. State of Karnataka reported in ILR 2002

KAR. 4693. Insofar as survey No.46 is concerned, the

very definition of granted land under the PTCL Act

excludes lands related to hereditary offices.

The

learned

single

Judge

after

detailed

consideration of the provisions of the KVOA Act and

referring to the judgment in the case of Syed Basheer

Ahamed v. State of Karnataka [ILR 1994 Kar.159] as

well as the judgment in the case of Lakshmana Gowda

v. State of Karnataka [(1981) 1 KLJ 1] has come to

the conclusion that insofar as alienations made between

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01.02.1963 to 07.08.1978, the same would be valid and

the permission of the Deputy Commissioner was only a

formality. After recording a finding that alienations are

made within the period of 01.02.1963 to 07.08.