The Supreme Court has ruled that revenue authorities cannot reopen decades-old land records beyond the limitation period expressly prescribed by law merely because the proceedings seek to investigate an alleged encroachment on a lake.
A Bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva held that the Joint Director/Registrar of Land Records lacked jurisdiction to initiate revisionary proceedings against landowners nearly four decades after City Title Survey numbers had been allotted to their properties.
The bench observed that Section 56(3) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, imposes a clear three-year limit for the suo motu exercise of revisional power against an order where no appeal has been filed. Once the statute prescribes a definite limitation period, the authorities cannot bypass that restriction by relying on the nature or public importance of the allegations.
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“The very invocation of such power by the Joint Director/Registrar of Land Records was without any mooring in the statute,” the Court said while quashing the proceedings relating to the appellants’ land.
The appeals arose from proceedings initiated through a notice dated April 26, 2014, issued by the Joint Director/Registrar of Land Records, City Survey, South Zone, Bengaluru.
The notice cancelled an earlier order of the Enquiry Officer concerning City Survey No. 174 and directed a fresh inquiry into several properties situated in the Yediyur Lake region. The proposed inquiry covered City Survey Nos. 174, 174/1, 174/2, 174/3, 174/5, 178, 178/1, 108, 109, 129, 130, 155, 166, 171, 172 and 1019.
The proceedings were initiated on a complaint filed by a third party, who alleged that members of the public had encroached upon Yediyur Lake and requested the authorities to remove the alleged encroachments to protect the waterbody.
M.R.R. Setty, whose legal representatives subsequently pursued the case following his death, challenged the notice insofar as it concerned his property.
Setty claimed ownership over 28 guntas of land in Survey No. 2 of Dasarahalli Village. The property had been purchased through eight sale deeds executed in 1929.
During a City Title Survey conducted in 1974, the land was assigned CTS Nos. 174/1 to 174/5. Setty later applied to develop the land by constructing a residential apartment building known as “Gokul Lake View.”
The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike sanctioned the construction plan on July 8, 2004. Permission to commence construction was granted on May 22, 2005, and after completion of the project, an occupancy certificate was issued on June 12/13, 2006.
Despite the decades-old title entries, the municipal permissions and the completion and occupation of the residential building, the land-record authorities initiated revisionary proceedings in 2014 to reconsider the nature of the land.
Setty and other affected landowners approached the Karnataka High Court, contending that the proceedings were barred by the limitation prescribed under Section 56(3) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act.
A Single Judge of the Karnataka High Court accepted the landowners’ argument and held that the notice had been issued well beyond the three-year limitation period.
The Single Judge concluded that the Joint Director/Registrar of Land Records had no jurisdiction to initiate revisionary proceedings several decades after CTS numbers had been allotted to the properties. The batch of writ petitions was consequently allowed on the ground of limitation.
The Karnataka government and its authorities challenged that decision before a Division Bench of the High Court.
By a common judgment dated January 9, 2020, the Division Bench reversed the Single Judge’s decision.
It held that no conclusive decision had been taken by the authorities concerning the correctness of the CTS numbers. Since the principal allegation was that Yediyur Lake had been encroached upon, the Division Bench found that a fresh inquiry was justified.
The High Court stated that the landowners could participate in the inquiry and that further proceedings would depend upon its outcome. It consequently held that the Single Judge should not have quashed the notice merely on the ground of delay without examining the merits of the alleged encroachment.
A review petition filed against that decision was dismissed on June 16, 2023, prompting the appeal before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court stayed the operation of the Division Bench judgment on October 17, 2023. Setty died on December 28, 2024, following which his widow and two sons were brought on record as his legal representatives.
The Supreme Court said the central question was whether the Joint Director/Registrar of Land Records could validly exercise revisional jurisdiction under Section 56 on the basis of a third-party complaint despite the statutory limitation.
Section 56 empowers the Tribunal or an authorised Revenue or Survey Officer to examine the records of proceedings conducted by a subordinate officer and determine their legality or propriety. The competent authority may modify, annul or reverse an order after giving the interested parties notice and an opportunity of hearing.
However, the proviso to Section 56(3) states that a Revenue or Survey Officer may exercise revisional power against an order from which no appeal has been filed only within three years from the date of that order.
The Supreme Court held that the legislative intention behind this proviso was “clear and manifest.” The Division Bench could not disregard the limitation merely because the dispute involved alleged encroachment on a lake rather than an ordinary dispute between the State and a private individual.
The Karnataka government attempted to rely on Section 52 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, which applies Sections 4, 5 and 12 of the Limitation Act, 1963, to appeals under the state enactment.
The Supreme Court rejected the argument, noting that the case concerned revisional power under Section 56 and not an appeal.
It further observed that Section 52 itself applies only where the Karnataka Land Revenue Act does not provide otherwise. Since Section 56(3) categorically prescribes three years for exercising the relevant revisional power, provisions of the Limitation Act could not be introduced to negate that statutory limit.
The Court said the Limitation Act could not be “smuggled in” to defeat the limitation expressly prescribed by the Karnataka legislation.
The government also relied on amendments introduced by the Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Act, 2025, particularly the amendment to Section 25 dealing with the inherent powers of a Revenue Court.
The amended provision preserves the Revenue Court’s inherent power to pass orders necessary to secure the ends of justice and prevent or correct abuse of its process. A new proviso also permits the exercise of inherent review powers within six months in specified circumstances, including the discovery of new evidence, an error apparent on the face of the record, lack of jurisdiction or misapplication of a legal provision.
The Supreme Court found that the amended provision could not support the 2014 proceedings.
It explained that the assignment of CTS numbers by a Revenue or Survey Officer in 1974 was merely an administrative exercise. It was not a quasi-judicial determination of a dispute between the State and another person or between parties to revenue proceedings.
Accordingly, the allotment of CTS numbers could not be treated as an order passed by a “Revenue Court” in the exercise of powers contemplated under Sections 24 and 25. The amended provision and its proviso were therefore of no assistance to the government.
The Supreme Court also referred to its established line of decisions holding that even when a statute does not prescribe a limitation period, suo motu revisional power must be exercised within a reasonable time.
It cited State of Gujarat v. Patil Raghav Natha and Securities and Exchange Board of India v. Sunil Krishna Khaitan, among other decisions, to reiterate that statutory authorities are not entitled to initiate action at any time.
The reasonable period depends upon factors such as the nature of the statute, the rights and liabilities created under it, the prejudice caused by the delay and whether third-party rights have come into existence.
The Court noted that public interest also lies in preventing authorities from spending time and resources on stale matters. Timely exercise of statutory powers prevents miscarriage of justice and misuse or abuse of authority while ensuring that violations are identified and penalised without delay.
The position was even clearer because Section 56 expressly prescribed a three-year period.
The Supreme Court attached significance to the history of the property and the rights created before the 2014 notice.
The land had been purchased in 1929 and had been recognised as private property through the allotment of CTS numbers in 1974. The municipal authorities later sanctioned an apartment project, granted permission for construction and issued an occupancy certificate after its completion.
Consequently, rights in favour of apartment owners and other third parties had arisen long before the initiation of the revisionary proceedings.
The Court held that requiring Setty or his successors to participate in an inquiry founded upon a jurisdiction invoked far beyond the statutory limitation could not be sustained.
The fact that no final adverse order had yet been passed did not cure the jurisdictional defect. Since the proceedings were barred at their very inception, the Single Judge was justified in interfering with the notice itself.
The Supreme Court set aside the Karnataka High Court Division Bench judgment dated January 9, 2020, insofar as it concerned Setty’s case. It also set aside the June 16, 2023 order dismissing the review petition.
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