The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday directed the State government to explain measures taken to effectively implement the prohibition of registration of transfer of granted lands under the provisions of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum passed the order on a PIL petition filed by 69-year-old Dasappa B. of Kuvempu Nagara in Tumakuru.
The petitioner had complained about registration of granted lands in violation of the provisions of the Act in various offices of sub-registrars in the State, including in Tumakuru district.
Section 6 of the Act states that notwithstanding anything in the Registration Act, 1908 no registering officer shall accept for registration any document relating to the transfer of, or to the creation of any interest in, any granted land included in a list of granted lands furnished to the registration officer except where such transfer is in accordance with this Act or the terms of the grant of such land or the law providing for such grant.
The Karnataka SC and ST (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act was enacted to help the SC/ST grantees whose ignorance and poverty have been exploited by persons belonging to the affluent and powerful sections to obtain sales or mortgages, either for a nominal consideration or for no consideration at all, the granted lands and they have become the victims of circumstances.
