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:

1. (2020) 14 SCC 232
2. Karnataka Act No.30 of 2023
3. MANU/KA/2493/2024
4. MANU/KA/4296/2024
5. Arising out of W.P. No.49447/2013, decided on 7/6/2024