SC-ST Land

Dear Client,
As per section 3 (e) of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978, as amended in 2023, "transfer" means a sale, gift, exchange, mortgage (with or without possession), lease or any other transaction not being a partition among members of a family or a testamentary disposition and includes the creation of a charge or an agreement to sell, exchange, mortgage or lease or enter into any other transaction. As per Section 4(1) of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978(PTCL), any transfer of government-granted land made either before or after the commencement of this Act, in contravention of the terms of the grant of such land or the law providing for such grant, or sub-section (2) shall be null and void and no right, title or interest in such land shall be conveyed or be deemed ever to have conveyed by such transfer. No person shall, after the commencement of this Act, transfer or acquire by transfer any granted land without the previous permission of the Government. (3) The provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2) shall also apply to the sale of any land in execution of a decree or order of a civil court or any award or order of any other authority. Under Section 5 of the Act, on application by any interested person or on information given in writing by any person, if the Commissioner or the Assistant Commissioner is satisfied that the transfer of any granted land is null and void under sub-section (1) of section 4, he may, (a) by order to 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 Castes or Scheduled Tribes, following the rules relating to the grant of land. Any order passed under sub-section 2 [sub-section (1) and (1A)] 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. Given the proposition of relevant law, consult an Advocate or visit the office of the concerned authority before taking over an SC ST land even for a charitable purpose.