TMI Blog1984 (4) TMI 313X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is constitutionally valid or not. The writ petition out of which this appeal arises was filed in the High Court along with a number of other writ petitions filed by various other parties challenging the validity of the Act. The High Court for reasons recorded in the judgment upheld the validity of the Act and dismissed this writ petition and also the other writ petitions. The High Court granted certificate under Arts. 132 and 133 of the Constitution and this appeal has been filed with the certificate granted by the High Court. As the identical question is involved in all these appeals and special leave petitions, this judgment will also dispose of all the appeals and special leave petitions. In as much as the vires of the Act has been challenged essentially on legal grounds, it does not become necessary for us to set out the facts at any great length. The broad facts common to all writ petitions which were filed in the High Court may, however, be briefly noted. The Petitioners are purchasers of lands which had been originally granted by the State to persons belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. Such lands had been originally granted to persons belonging to Schedu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat the transfer of any granted land is null and void under sub-section (1) of Section 4, he may.- (a) by order take possession of such land after evicting all persons in possession thereof in such manner as may be prescribed: Provided that no such order shall be made except after giving the person affected a reasonable opportunity of being heard; (b) restore such land to the original grantee or his legal heir. Where it is not reasonably practicable to restore the land to such grantee or legal heir, such land shall be deemed to have vested in the government free from all encumbrances. The Government may grant such land to a person belonging to any of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes in accordance with the rules relating to grant of land. (2) Any order passed under sub-section (1) shall be final and shall not be questioned in any court of law and no injunction shall be granted by any court in respect of any proceeding taken or about to be taken by the Assistant Commissioner in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Act. (3) For the purposes of this section, where any granted land is in the possession of a person, other than the original gra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion and are, therefore, void. 5. Invalidation of transfers of land granted to persons belonging to only scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and resumption of only such granted lands are discriminatory and they infringe Art. 14 of the Constitution. It may be noted that these very grounds were urged before the High Court. The High Court has carefully considered all the arguments advanced on behalf of the appellants who were the petitioners in the writ petitions filed before it. The High Court in its judgment has referred to the relevant rules governing the grant and has also discussed the various decisions which were cited before it. The High Court for reasons stated in the judgment negatived all the contentions and upheld the validity of the Act. We may mention that in addition to the aforesaid grounds a further ground has also been urged before us and the said ground is that as the Act in question does not provide for an appeal against the order of the competent authority, the Act should be held to be unreasonable, unjust and unconscionable and should, therefore, be struck down. Before we proceed to examine the contentions raised before us, it will be appropriate to ref ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er of preserving grants in the hands of the grantee belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and in violation of the prohibition on transfer of the granted land, transfers of such lands on a large scale to the serious detriment of the interests of these poorer sections of the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had taken place. In view of this unfortunate experience the Legislature in its wisdom and in pursuance of its declared policy of safeguarding, protecting and improving the conditions of these weaker sections of the community, thought it fit to bring about this change in the legal position by providing that any such transfer except in terms of the provisions of the Act will be null and void and not merely voidable. The Legislature no doubt is perfectly competent in pursuance of the aforesaid policy to provide that such transactions will be null and void and not merely voidable. Even under the Contract Act any contract which is opposed to public policy in rendered void. The State, consistently with the directive principles of the Constitution, has made it a policy and very rightly, to preserve, protect and promote the interests of the S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uitable procedure consistent with the principles of natural justice for achieving this purpose without recourse to prolonged litigation in Court in the larger interests of benefiting the members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. We my note that the competence of the Legislature to declare any transfer of granted land in contravention of the terms of grant of such land or any rule, regulation or law providing for such grant or without the previous permission of the Government in case 1 of transfers after the passing of the Act has not been seriously disputed and cannot possibly be disputed. What has been strongly urged before us is that the provisions contained in S. 4 in so far as the same seek to nullify transfers effected before the Act had come into force, are invalid. Any person who acquires such granted land by transfer from the original grantee in breach of the condition relating to prohibition on such transfer must necessarily be presumed to be aware of the prohibition imposed on the transfer of such granted land. Anybody who acquires such granted land in contravention of the prohibition relating to transfer of such granted land cannot be considered to b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ny merit. Art. 19(1)(f) which was in force at the relevant time provided that all citizens shall have the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property. Granted lands were intended for the benefit and enjoyment of the original grantees who happen to belong to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. At the time of the grant a condition had been imposed for protecting the interests of the original grantees in the granted lands by restricting the transfer of the same. The condition regarding the prohibition on transfer of such granted lands for a specified period, was imposed by virtue of the specific term in the grant itself or by reason of any law, rule or regulation governing such grant. It was undoubtedly open to the grantor at the time of granting lands to the original grantees to stipulate such a condition the condition being a term of the grant itself, and the condition was imposed in the interests of the grantee. Except on the basis of such a condition the grantor might not have made any such grant at all. The condition imposed against the transfer for a particular period of such granted lands which were granted essentially for the benefit of the grantees cannot be sa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch transferees have after the transfer, which is liable to be avoided in accordance with law, enjoyed for a sufficiently long period the benefits of lands transferred to them before the lands could be recovered from them. Art. 19(1)(f), therefore, did not invalidate S. 4 of the Act. We have earlier noticed that the title which is acquired by a transferee in the granted lands, transferred in contravention of the prohibition against the transfer of the granted lands, is a voidable title which in law is liable to be defeated through appropriate action and possession of such granted lands transferred in breach of the condition of prohibition could be recovered by the grantor. The right or property which a transferee acquires in the granted lands, is a defeasible right and the transferee renders himself liable to lose his right or property at the instance of the grantor. We have further observed that by the enactment of this Act and particularly s. 4 and s. 5 thereof the Legislature is seeking to defeat the defeasible right of the transferee in such lands without the process of a prolonged legal action with a view to speedy resumption of such granted lands for distribution thereof th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e defeasible right or interest of the transferees in the granted lands is defeated and the voidable transaction is rendered void. We have earlier held that it is clearly open to the Legislature to declare void the transfers of granted lands in contravention of the condition of prohibition on transfer. As soon as such transfers are rendered void by virtue of the provisions of the Act, the transferee does not have any right in the granted lands so transferred, and possession is sought to be recovered of such lands in which the transferees have lost their right and interest. Therefore, the question of acquisition of any property by the State or any modification or extinguishment of right of property does not really arise and Art. 31-A cannot be applied. We are, therefore, of the opinion that there is no infringement of Art. 31 and Art. 31-A of the Constitution. We may further observe that this aspect has been carefully and elaborately considered by the learned Judges of the High Court while holding that Arts. 31 and 31- A are not violated. The next contention urged is that Ss. 4 and 5 of the Act, are violative of Art. 14 of the Constitution inasmuch as these sections make special p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... appropriate amendment of the Act. It has subsequently been brought to our notice that by the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) (Amendment) Act, 1984 (Karnataka Act 3 of 1984) which received the assent of the Governor on the 29th day of February, 1984 and came to be published in the Karnataka Gazette Extraordinary on the 3rd of March, 1984, a suitable provision for appeal against an order of the Assistant Commissioner has been made in S. 5A which has been incorporated by the Amending Act. We have had some doubt whether lack of provision for an appeal in an enactment of this kind would have infected the Act with the vice of procedural unreasonableness and would have affected the Constitutional validity of the Act. As, however, a suitable provision for an appeal against the order of the Assistant Commissioner has been made by the Amending Act, this question does not survive to require any further consideration and it does not become necessary for us to make any final pronouncement on it. Though we have come to the conclusion that the Act is valid, yet, in our opinion, we have to make certain aspects clear. Granted lands which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt of the Governor on the 29th day of February, 1984 and first came to be published in the Karnataka Gazette Extraordinary on the 3rd day of March; 1984, the Deputy Commissioner to whom the appeal will be presented will no doubt take this fact into consideration in deciding the question of limitation in regard to any appeal which may be filed against an order of the Assistant Commissioner; if any appeal is preferred within a period of three months from the date the amended provision conferring the right of appeal came into force, the Deputy Commissioner taking into consideration the fact that a period of three months has been prescribed for preferring an appeal from the date of the order of the Assistant Commissioner, may have no difficulty in entertaining the appeal by condoning the delay under S. 5 of the Limitation Act in terms of the power conferred on the Deputy Commissioner under the said Section 5A, provided the Deputy Commissioner is satisfied that the appeal is otherwise maintainable and the interest of justice requires that the appeal should be entertained and not be thrown out on the ground of limitation. With these observations we dismiss the appeals and the Special ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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