BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act and directed the State Government to establish special courts in districts, wherever necessary, to try cases registered under the Act. However, the court struck down Section 9(4) pertaining to determination of criminal liability.
A division bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and B A Patil, pronounced the judgment to this effect as most of the concerns raised by the petitioners who questioned the validity of the Act, were addressed by the government last year through an amendment. The Act came into force in 2014 to curb organised attempts at land grab, whether land belonged to the government, Wakf Board or the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments, local authorities or other statutory or non-statutory bodies owned or controlled or managed by the government.
The bench said that around 3,200 of 7,878 cases registered under the Act between 2016 and 2020, had been disposed of. Currently, there is only one special court in Bengaluru to deal with cases registered under the Act. People who face charges under the Act in different districts, farmers in particular, have to go to Bengaluru to attend hearings.
In view of this, the court directed the state government to set up special courts, preferably in all districts, to try such cases. Terming the Act as draconian, the petitioners had contended that the Act was in violation of Articles 14, 20 and 21 of the Constitution and it does not provide the liberty to file an appeal against orders under the Act.
B A Patil retires as HC Judge
Bengaluru: Justice BA Patil retired as Karnataka High Court judge on Tuesday. He was appointed additional judge of the High Court on November, 14, 2016, and became permanent on November 3, 2018. He was directly selected as District and Sessions Judge in 2002. Justice Patil obtained a law degree from the University Law College, Dharwad, in 1983 and enrolled as an advocate in the same year. He practised at Dharwad and obtained an LLM degree, and was a gold medallist. He briefly worked as part-time faculty member at law colleges and Karnatak University, Dharwad.