State files appeal against 108 farmers

Division Bench of High Court 'surprised' that Govt filed appeal instead of following orders

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A division bench of the High Court of Karnataka has expressed surprise that the State government decided to file an appeal against 108 farmers instead of following a single-judge order, and considering their applications for land mutation. The division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum said, “We are more than surprised to see the approach of the government in preferring this appeal.”

As many as 108 farmers from Belagavi had approached the HC after their representation to the revenue authorities requesting to effect mutation and mutate their names in the revenue records were not considered. A single-judge bench by an order dated March 14, 2022, directed the authorities to consider the request within three months. Instead of the authorities considering the applications, the State filed an appeal before the division bench.

The division bench in its judgment noted: “The order of the learned Single Judge clearly indicates that it was left open to the Authority to arrive at a decision while considering the request. The order of the learned Single Judge only indicates there already is a report submitted through an ADLR, and the Authority was directed to consider this report while deciding the request. In our opinion, by considering the order of the learned Single Judge by any angle, it is not causing any prejudice to the State as the learned Single Judge only directed the respondents – the Authority – to consider the request on its own merits.” The division bench said the State need not have filed the appeal.

“On the backdrop of these facts, the present appeal filed raising various grounds including a ground that the petitioners have suppressed certain facts, ought not to have been filed by the State government,” the HC said. Dismissing the appeal, the HC said the State did not study the single judge order correctly.

“The appellants/ State government, when the order of the learned Single Judge was passed in a limited compass and no observations on merits were made by the learned Single Judge, the filing of the appeal by the State government show that the State Authorities without considering the order of the learned Single Judge in its proper perspective, took the order as an order causing a serious prejudice to the State government, which is factually incorrect.”

The appeal was dismissed with the court saying, “As we are unable to find any justifiable ground in the appeal, it can only be said that the appeal is devoid of any merit and as such, deserves to be dismissed at threshold.”