Introduction to PTCL Act
The Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of
Certain Lands) Act, 1978 ("PTCL Act") prohibits and regulates transfer of
certain lands granted by Government to persons belonging to Scheduled Caste and
Schedule Tribe in Karnataka. It came into effect on 1/1/1979.
Key provisions
Sec.4 of PTCL Act declares transfer of granted land -either before or after
commencement of PTCL Act in contravention of the terms of grant of such land or
the law providing for such grant, null and void. Additionally, transfer of
granted land after commencement of PTCL Act, without previous permission of the
Government is declared null and void.
Sec.5 allows Assistant Commissioner to
take possession of granted land by evicting persons in its possession and
restore the same to the original grantee or his legal heirs, if upon enquiry he
is satisfied that the transfer of granted land is null and void U/s 4. It
enables any interested person to apply for having the transfer annulled as void
U/s 4 and also permits suo motu action
Judicial interpretation
The courts have interpreted the provisions of PTCL Act keeping in mind its
beneficial nature and intent to protect the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe
grantees whose ignorance and poverty is often exploited by persons belonging to
affluent and powerful sections to obtain transfer either for a nominal
consideration or no consideration.
Challenges faced by bonafide purchasers
There are however, many instances where a buyer acting in good faith in complete
ignorance of the fact that the person transferring the land is a member of
Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe or that the land comes within purview of PTCL
Act, proceeds to acquire the land, though in violation of Sec.4 of PTCL Act,
however, for full market consideration and after conducting due diligence. Take
for an instance a case where a buyer purchases the land after verifying
available revenue records / title deeds which do not disclose that the granted
land came within purview of PTCL Act.
There are many instances where the
original grant records like grant order, grant certificate / saguvali chit are
not available and revenue authorities give endorsement confirming their
non-availability. The land records in such cases like mutation order, index of
land, ROR / RTC though indicate that the land was as originally granted but are
silent as to if the same contained any non-alienation and / or the grant was
made to a member of Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe. In many cases, bona fide
purchasers deal with granted land many years it was first transferred by the
original grantee.
Impact of Nekkanti Rama
The Supreme Court in
Nekkanti Rama Lakshmi v. State of Karnataka and another[1]
noting that Sec.5 of PTCL Act does not prescribe any period for its invocation,
in view of settled position that where a statute does not provide for a period
of limitation the provisions of statute must be invoked within reasonable time,
held that proceedings for restoration of land instituted after unreasonable long
period could not be maintained. The decision in Nekkanti Rama was followed in
several subsequent decisions of Supreme Court and Karnataka High Court to
dislodge claim for restoration of land to grantees which had been made after
unreasonable delay from the date of transfer.
2023 amendment to PTCL Act
The Government of Karnataka w.e.f. 27/7/2023 amended provisions of Sec.5 of PTCL
Act to provide that notwithstanding anything contained in any law, there shall
be no limitation of time to invoke the provisions of PTCL Act[2].
The issue whether the said amendment disturbs the law settled in Nekkanti Rama
and if so whether the same is constitutionally valid, is pending challenge
before this court (Single Judge) in W.P. No.27496/2023 and a batch of connected
matters. In the meantime, the Division Bench of Karnataka High Court in
Gouramma
v. Dy. Commissioner, Haveri[3] and Kadiramma and others v. State of Karnataka
and others[4] has taken a view that the law declared in Nekkanti Rama has not
been altered by the recent amendment to PTCL Act.
Leveraging technology to balance interest
Recently Government of Karnataka launched RTC bhoomi.online a digital land
record portal which facilitates checking of land records like RTC (Pahani),
Mutation, revenue map etc. However, the said website for the present does not
provide hyperlinks to the original grant records or information as to whether a
given grant was to a member of Scheduled Caste / Schedule Tribe.
The High Court in
Basavarajappa v. Dy. Commissioner[5] held that a grantee
having filed an application U/s 5 of PTCL Act and the same having been rejected,
cannot file another application for such resumption. The court noted that the
situation in the said case arose as the documents / earlier orders passed by the
Assistant Commissioner were not available for the Assistant Commissioner to
consider the second application.
To address such problem, the court directed for
digitization of all records related to land grants, including grant orders,
survey records, auction details, revenue records, and related government
documents and hyperlinking for easy accessibility and historical tracking. The
court directed the preparation of a digital register for each survey number,
village-wise, to facilitate document retrieval based on various search
parameters (district, village, survey number, grantee's name, etc.) and for
enabling online access to certified copies of grant-related documents.
Conclusion
The above directions once complied would create greater awareness, reducing
disputes and fraudulent claims. Till that is done the prospective buyers need to
undertake through title due dalliance to rule out applicability of PTCL Act.
End Notes:
- (2020) 14 SCC 232
- Karnataka Act No.30 of 2023
- MANU/KA/2493/2024
- MANU/KA/4296/2024
- Arising out of W.P. No.49447/2013, decided on 7/6/2024
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