Revenue Authorities Have No Jurisdiction To Decide 'Title Dispute' Between Parties In Respect Of Immovable Properties: Karnataka HC(FB) [Read Judgment]

In an important judgement which would do away with lodging of multiple litigations, a Full Bench Of Karnataka High Court has held that "The revenue authorities viz., the Tahsildar, Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner have no jurisdiction to decide the 'title dispute', between the parties in respect of the immoveable property/properties. It is the exclusive domain of the competent Civil Court to adjudicate, the decree if any passed by the court, will be binding on the parties, as well as the revenue authorities in the State." A full bench of Justice S N Satyanarayana, Justice B Veerappa and Justice K Natrajan, while deciding a reference made by a single judge, by order dated April 2, 2019, observed "When the parties approaching the court bringing notice the draconian procedure of filing the appeal and revision, the court or the authority cannot follow the proposition of wait and watch, by sitting on the fence and cannot expect citizens to run from pillar to post for the revenue authorities and ultimately, the competent authority, who is the civil court will have to decide the title between the parties and the authorities cannot be allowed to use the citizens as commodity or chattel only for the purpose of following the procedure. The bench made the following declarations: *Any order passed by the jurisdictional Tahsildar under the provisions of Section 129 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act touches the title in respect of the immoveable properties, there is no need for the aggrieved party to file an appeal/revision before the Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner as it is a futile exercise and therefore, the aggrieved party can straightaway approach the competent Civil Court for declaration of title and consequential relief and the judgment and decree to be passed will be binding on the parties to the lis as well as the Revenue Authorities. ## Any person aggrieved by the order passed by the jurisdiction Tahsildar exercising powers under the provisionsof Section 129 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act regarding entries based on the source of title and if there is no dispute with regard to title, then only an appeal/revision can be filed before the Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner under the provisions of Section 136(2) and 136(3) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act. The bench observing that"Time and circumstance now warrant that the court has to act as a guardian to protect Dharma and at this stage it is apt to extract the verse 7-8, of Chapte 4, of the Bhagavadgeetha which says, 'Whenever there is decay of righteousness, O Bharata, And there is exaltation of unrighteousness, then I myself come forth; For the protection of the good, for the destruction of evil-doers, For the sake of firmly establishing righteousness, I am born from age to age." passed a slew of recommendations and directions for the state to frame proper rules with regard to disposal of the case in a time bound manner. i) In case any application is filed for transfer of Mutation or Khatha or RTC, based on the source of title without there being any dispute, the said application shall be considered for transfer of mutation or Khatha or RTC, within a period of three months from the date of receipt of notice by the other side; ii) As soon as the application is filed for change of entries, khatha or mutation, at the first instance, the Tahsildar shall have to verify whether there is any dispute with regard to title in respect of the property in question and then, the Tahsildar can direct the parties to approach the competent Civil Court; iii) Aggrieved by the orders passed by the Tashildar, if an appeal/revision is filed before the Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner, then the Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner shall take necessary steps to dispose of the appeal/revision within six months from the date of filing of such revision after service of notice on the other side. iv) If the authorities are not in a position to adhere to the time fixed, then cogent reasons must be aspired by the concerned Officer and in case, if there is a delay of more than three months for transfer of mutation, khatha and entries, the Tahsildar shall record the reasons for the delay and submit to the higher Authorities. In case, if there is delay in disposing of the appeal by the Assistant Commissioner, he has to submit the reasons to the Deputy Commissioner and if the Deputy Commissioner in disposing off the revision, he has to submit the reasons to the Secretary to the Revenue Department and ultimately, the higher authorities shall ensure speedy disposal of the proceedings; v) Consideration of application for change of Khatha or Mutation/Entries and appeals/revisions under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, shall be included in the schedule to the Karnataka Guarantee...

Revenue Authorities Have No Jurisdiction To Decide 'Title Dispute' Between Parties In Respect Of Immovable Properties: Karnataka HC(FB) [Read Judgment]

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