The high court on Tuesday ruled that, from now on, the original grantees of the land allotted to them under the provisions for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities can be prosecuted by the government for criminal offence if they sell their land repeatedly. The purchasers of land can recover the money from the original grantees.
A division bench headed by chief justice JS Khehar gave these directions. The ruling came during the hearing of a case pertaining to Cheluvaiah, who was granted with four acres by the government under the provisions of land grants to SC/ST in 1955.
He then sold the land twice and thereafter got the land restored to him under the provisions of Karnataka Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978.
The bench observed that it amounts to cheating if the granted land is repeatedly sold. The division bench further observed that in many instances when the land is sold more than once, the original grantee is aware he or she cannot sell the granted land due to prohibition as per the act.
