Karnataka High Court
Abdul Faheem vs The State Of Karnataka And Anr on 14 August, 2020
Author: Nataraj Rangaswamy
Bench: Nataraj Rangaswamy
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA
KALABURAGI BENCH
DATED THIS THE 14TH DAY OF AUGUST, 2020
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE NATARAJ RANGASWAMY
WRIT PETITION No.204499/2018 (KLR-CON)
Between:
Abdul Faheem S/o Mohammed Haneef
Aged about 52 Years, Occ: Agriculture
R/o H.No.7-771/A2, "Ibrahim Manzil"
Mijgori Gunj Road
Kalaburagi - 585 104
... Petitioner
(By Sri A. M. Biradar, Advocate)
And:
1. The State of Karnataka
By its Secretary
Department of Revenue
Vikasa Soudha, Bengalore - 560001
2. The Deputy Commissioner
Kalaburagi - 585 102
... Respondents
(By Smt. Anuradha M. Desai, Govt. Advocate)
This Writ Petition is filed under Articles 226 and 227
of the Constitution of India praying to, issue writ of
mandamus directing the 2nd respondent to issue
conversion order in respect of the land Sy.No.81/2
2
measuring 1 acre 2 guntas situated at Badepur, Tq. & Dist.
Kalaburagi and direct the 2nd respondent to collect the
conversion fee / fine from the petitioner with regard to the
land Sy.No.81/2 measuring 1 acre 2 guntas of Badepur.
This petition coming on for preliminary hearing this
day, the Court made the following:-
ORDER
This writ petition is filed by the petitioner seeking for a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent No.2 to accept the conversion fine and to issue an official memorandum converting the land bearing Sy.No.81/2 of Badepur village and District Kalaburagi measuring 1 acre 2 guntas for non-agricultural residential use.
2. The petitioner being the owner of the aforesaid land submitted an application in the prescribed form seeking conversion of the land from agricultural to non- agricultural residential use. The said application was received and acknowledged by the office of the respondent No.2 on 01.06.2016. Following this, a cheque slip of the documents was prepared by the Tahsildar which was forwarded to the Assistant Commissioner along with the 3 survey sketch and also no objection from the department of Health, Special Land Acquisition Officer, MI, Special Land Acquisition Officer, KIADB, the Municipal Corporation, Kalaburagi, an endorsement issued by the Tahsildar stating that there is no application in Form No.1 and 4 in respect of the land in question, no objection from the department of Industries and Commerce and also the letter of Assistant Executive Engineer, PWD in From No.5- D indicating that the land in question is well connected by road.
3. Based on the above, the Assistant Commissioner in terms of his letter dated 23.03.2017 forwarded the request of the petitioner for conversion of land from agricultural to non-agricultural purpose.
4. Long thereafter the respondent No.2 in terms of his letter dated 04.07.2018 addressed to the District Wakf Board, invited the opinion of the Board whether the land in question belongs to any Wakf. Further notwithstanding the no objection issued by the Municipal 4 Corporation, Kalaburagi, another letter dated 04.07.2018 was addressed by the respondent No.2. to ascertain whether the land in question was acquired for any development project and also to indicate whether they have any objection regarding conversion of the land in question.
5. The land in question lies within Badepur village and as per the claim of the petitioner, a master plan is not introduced in respect of this village. The land in question is sought to be converted from agricultural use to non- agricultural residential use. Under Section 95 (5) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, if the Deputy Commissioner fails to inform the petitioner of his decision on the application made, within a period of four months, from the date of receipt of the application, the request for conversion shall be deemed to have been granted. In the case on hand, though the application seeking conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural use was filed on 01.06.2016, the respondent No.2 did not respond within 5 four months. On the contrary, the documents placed on record would indicate that all the Revenue Officials including the Sub-Divisional Officer had recommended for conversion of the land in question. The conduct of the respondent No.2 inviting objections/opinion from the Wakf Board is wholly illegal. The further conduct of the respondent No.2 in writing to the Municipal Corporation to ascertain whether the land in question is acquired for any developmental activities, notwithstanding the no objection by the Municipal Corporation, is clearly indicative of the fact that the respondent No.2 is unnecessarily harassing a citizen.
6. Therefore, it is clear that the petitioner was entitled for a deemed conversion of the land. Since there is no impediment of whatsoever nature for conversion of the land, the grant of deemed conversion would not come in the way of assessment of the property for residential use.
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7. In that view of the matter, the writ petition is allowed and it is declared that the land bearing Sy.No.81/2 is deemed to be converted from agricultural to non- agricultural residential use, subject to conditions stipulated under Section 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act and Karnataka Land Revenue Rules. Respondent No.2 is directed to receive the conversion fine as may be applicable and issue a corresponding official memorandum converting the aforesaid land from agricultural to non- agricultural residential use. This shall be done by the respondent No.2 within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.
In the event, the respondent No.2 fails to comply this order, the petitioner is always at liberty to approach this Court for appropriate orders against the officer responsible for not complying with this order.
Sd/-
JUDGE RSP