BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has directed the State Government to hand over possession of 354.10 acres of land to Jamnalal Bajaj Seva Trust on 13th KM, Magadi Road.
Quashing the order dated November 28, 2017, passed by the Land Tribunal, Bengaluru North Taluk, which held 354.10 guntas as ‘excess lands’ under Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961, at Srigandhadakaval, Herohalli, and Gidadakonenahalli villages, Justice P S Dinesh Kumar declared that the said lands fall within the latter part of the definition under Section 2(18) of the Land Reforms Act, and hence, are not agricultural lands within the meaning of Section 2(18).
“It is sad that an ashram to propagate Gandhian values and envisaged by Acharya Vinobha Bhave has been struggling in a legal battle for decades. In the meantime, the trust has lost 78 acres of valuable land due to acquisition by BDA and encroachment,” the court noted, while directing the authorities to deliver all that piece and parcel lands to the trust, the possession of which they took on December 7, 2017.
The court also quashed the endorsement dated January 8, 2016, passed by the Deputy Commissioner in view of the declaration that the lands are not agricultural in nature, and granted liberty is reserved to the trust to seek conversion of 3.20 acres in Sy.Nos. 37/1P and 40/1 of Herohalli, if so advised.
Apart from questioning the Tribunal’s order, the trust had also questioned the endorsement issued by the DC on January 8, 2016, stating that its request for land conversion cannot be considered due to pendency of writ petitions. The reasons recorded by the Tribunal run counter to the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Kunhambu’s case, the court added.