Cannot force govt to accept gift of land for Mini Vidhana Soudha: HC

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has said that the Government cannot be forced to accept a gift and dismissed a petition by a resident of Bidar who insisted that it accept three acres of land from him for the construction of the Mini Vidhana Soudha in Bidar district.

“Section 122 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 defines Gift as "the transfer of certain existing movable or immovable property made voluntarily and without consideration, by one person, called the donor, to another, called the donee, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee."

For a transfer to fructify as a gift, this provision prescribes the acceptance as a sine qua non. There is nothing in the said provision which mandates the acceptance,” the Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit said in their recent judgement on a petition filed by one Vishwanathappa A Khadadi.

The district administration of Bidar had issued an order for the purchase of eight acres and 25 guntas of land in Holasur, Bidar for the construction of the administrative building.

Khadadi made a representation to the Deputy Commissioner that he had three acres of land in the vicinity and that he would gift it to the government for the same building. He requested that instead of purchasing the land, the Government should use his land for free for the Mini Vidhana Soudha.

His plea was rejected after which he approached the High Court. The Government advocate objected to the petition by arguing that “what land is suitable for the construction of Mini Vidhana Soudha is for the Authority to decide and that a private citizen cannot meddle with such decision; although the Government in exercise of the power of Eminent Domain can compulsorily acquire private land for a public purpose, it cannot be directed to accept the free presentation of land from the citizen.”

The HC accepted the contentions of the government and said, “If the Authorities in their wisdom have chosen a particular land for constructing a public structure of some significance, the Courts cannot undertake a deeper examination of such decisions, unless legal infirmities obtaining therein are demonstrated from the record.”

The High Court further pointed out that there is no rule which says that the Government has to accept a gift made by a citizen.

“However, no rule or ruling is cited before us to substantiate the contention that if a citizen wants to give his property free of cost for a particular purpose, the Government has to accept the same,” the HC said.

Dismissing the petition, the HC said, “It hardly needs to be stated that the power of the Government to take private property for public purpose on payment of compensation is one thing and compelling the Government t o take a private property even if freely offered, is another.”

The HC however said that the petitioner was free to give his land to any charity. “Nothing observed hereinabove shall come in the way of the petitioner gifting his property for public or charitable use to any person, body of individuals, associations, societies or the like if he so desires,” it said. (WP 5966/2022)