BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday held that the tahsildar has jurisdiction to conduct a survey and fix the boundaries of the land situated within the limits of municipal corporation also, under Section 140 (2) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act.
A division bench of Justices Alok Aradhe and S Vishwajith Shetty passed the order while allowing an appeal filed by Sunil Chajed, a resident of Basavanagudi in Bengaluru, questioning the validity of the order dated October 1, 2020 passed by a single judge.
“If at the time of the survey, boundary of any survey number or subdivision of a survey number or a holding is disputed, shall be fixed by survey officer in accordance with the land records relating to the land and after making such enquiry as he considers necessary. Section 140(2) of the Act provides that if any dispute arises concerning the boundary of survey number, the Tahsildar shall decide the dispute having due regard to the land records.
Thus, it is evident that Tahsildar under Section 140(2) of the Act has power to determine the boundary of a survey number. This power can be exercised in respect of a survey number or a holding irrespective of the fact whether the same is situated within the municipal limits or outside the municipal limits,” the court said.
It noted that the single judge has taken into account Section 112-D of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, which deals with the powers of the commissioner to survey lands and buildings. This provision has no bearing on this case of whether the tahsildar has jurisdiction to decide the matter pertaining to fixing the boundary of lands, it added.