DHARWAD : The Supreme Court has upheld the judgment of the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka high court in a case about nearly 5 acres of valuable commercial land in Keshwapur , Hubballi. The judgment highlights how negligence of people in following legal procedures in property matters can cost them dearly.The Dharwad bench in the 2015 judgment had declared the legal heirs of the late Shah Veljee Kanji as owners of the commercial land bearing CTS Nos. 361 and 366, measuring 1 acre 25 guntas and 3 acres 5 guntas respectively, on Kusugal Road, Keshwapur.The division bench comprising Justices Ananda Byrareddy and Justice Sujatha held that the Kanji’s legal heirs were the owners of 5/8th portion of the land and the Gadag Cotton Sales Society is the owner and owns the remaining 3/8th share. The land was granted to the family of Patils of Keshwapur village by the government under provisions of the Bombay Hereditary Offices Act, 1874. They were classified as Watan land.This Act was repealed by the Karnataka Village Offices Abolition Act, 1961 from March 1, 1963 and the land were taken over by the state government by abolishing the hereditary village offices. Thus, the lands vested in the government free from all encumbrances rendering the leases granted by the Patil family as void. Subsequently, under the KVOA Act, the lands were regranted to members of the Patil’s family in 1973. On the date of the regrant, the Patils were not in possession of the lands and the Kanji’s legal heirs and the society were in possession to the extent of the share stated earlier.Meanwhile, Eureka Builders , in a bid to buy the land had entered into an agreement with the Patils, and approached the Supreme Court against the high court judgment.The division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Abhay Manohar Mishra and RK Agarwal upheld the high court judgment. It reasoned that the Patils ceased to hold any manner of right, title and interest on the date of agreement (March 23, 2001) and they could not have conveyed to Eureka Builders any right, title or interest in the property by virtue of sale agreement. A team of 14 advocates including Vasant H Ron, CM Poonacha, GV Chandrashekhar and Anjana represented Kanji’s heirs.Legal provisionThe Karnataka Village Offices Abolition Act, 1961, which replaced the Bombay Hereditary Offices Act, 1874 from March 1, 1963 provides that in case of regrant of the land to the original owner should take the possession of the land (in case he has leased it out) within 12 years or file a suit for the possession within 12 years. In the absence of any of these two, the grantee loses ownership and the law allows the lease holder to become the owner. Experts say that in the above case, the land was regranted to the Patil family but they failed to either take possession of the land or file a suit for possession within 12 years. Their negligence made them lose ownership and the leaseholder, who was in possession of the land, illegally became the owner.

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