NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA SWAMIGALU MATADHIPATHIGALU KANNADA MUTTversusC.P. KAVEERAMMA & ORS.

                      [2013] 8 S.C.R. 816


A    NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA SWAMIGALU
            MATADHIPATHIGALU KANNADA MUTT
                               v.
                   C.P. KAVEERAMMA & ORS.
             (Civil Appeal Nos. 4150-4163 of 2013)
B                        MAY 06, 2013
        [DR. B.S. CHAUHAN AND FAKKIR MOHAMED
                  IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, JJ.]

C      Kamataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 - ss. 41 and 130 -
  Applicability of - Occupancy rights granted to inamdar after
  enforcement of lnams Abolition· Act - In respect of the land
  mortgaged - Application under Land Reforms Act, seeking
  possession of the land and eviction of the mortgagee from
o unauthorised occupation of the land - Held: Possession of
  mortgagee, after grant of occupancy rights to the mortgagor/
  lnamdar, should be construed as unauthorised - Hence resort
  to remedy under Land Reforms Act seeking eviction from
  illegal occupancy, is permissible - Karnataka Abolition of
E Certain lnams Act, 1977.

      The property in question, which belonged to the
  appellant, was mortgaged to the respondents by the
  predecessor-in-interest of the appellants in the years 1955
  and 1967. After coming into force of Karnataka Certain
F lnams Abolition Act, 1977, all the lnams stood abolished
  and occupancy rights were given to the appellant in
  respect of the entire land on 11.2.1993. Claim of the
  respondents for occupancy rights based on the rights
  flowing from the mortgage deeds was rejected. The
G occupancy r!ghts of appellants attained finality.
        The appellants thereafter approached Tehsildar
    seeking possession of the land and eviction of the
    respondents therefrom u/s. 41 of Land Reforms Act.
H                             816
 NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA S.M.K.MUTI v. C.P. 817
                   KAVEERAMMA

Tehsildar directed eviction of the respondents.               A
Consequent thereto appellant was put in possession by
the Mahazar drawn by the Revenue Inspector.
     Order of Tehsildar was challenged by the
respondents by filing writ petitions. Single Judge of the     8
High Court though upheld the jurisdiction of the Tehsildar
to entertain the application of the appellants, but set
aside the order on the ground that there were serious
irregularities in passing the order and remitted the matter
to Tehsildar and also directed re-delivery of possession      C
pending final orders. In Writ Appeal, Division Bench of
High Court, by its order dated 12.9.2007 held that
Tehsildar had no jurisdiction to entertain the application
and set aside the order of Tehsildar as well as the Single
Judge.
                                                              D
     Appeal against the order of Division Bench was
allowed by Supreme Court by order dated 13.2.2009. The
Court rejected the plea of the respondents as regards
jurisdiction of Tehsildar based on s. 43 of Transfer of
Property Act, by virtue of the mortgages of the years 1955    E
and 1967 and also rejected the plea based on s. 10 of
1977 Act. However, it remanded the case to Division
Bench of High Court to address the issues other than the
issue relating to applicability of s. 43.
                                                              F
     Pursuant to remission of the matter, Division Bench
of the High Court re-opened the issues, which were
already set at rest by Supreme Court in its order dated
13.2.2009, and set aside the order of the Tetisildar. Hence
the present appeals.
                                                              G
    Allowing the appeals, the Court
     HELD: 1. The continued possession of the
respondents after the grant of occupancy rights in favour
of the appellant in the order dated 11.2.1993, should be      H
            SUPREME COURT REPORTS               [2013] 8 S.C.R.


A construed as unauthorized and there was every right in
  the appellant to invoke the protection of the Land
  Reforms Act for the purpose of working out its remedy
  by taking recourse to law for implementing the order
  dated 11.2.1993. [Para 15] [827-G-H; 828-A]
B     2. This Court by its order dated 13.2.2009 found that
    by virtue of Section 4(2)(b) of Karnataka Certain lnam$
    Abolition Act, 1977 the submission based on Section 43
    of the Transfer of Property Act, by relying upon the
    mortgages of the year 1955 and 1967, cannot survive.
C   Even the submission based on Section 10 of the 1977 Act
    was rejected. After the remand, it is found that by framing
    the two issues in the order impugned in the present
    appeals, the Division Bench proceed~d to reopen the
    very same questions, which were already dealt with in
D   substratum in the earlier judgment of this Court dated
    13.2.2009. When once this Court held that Section 43 of
    the Transfer of Property Act could not come to the aid of  '
    the respondents, any right based on the mortgages of the
    year 1955 and 1967, no longer survived for consideration.
E   Since Section 10 of the 1977 Act was also held to be not
    applicable to the case of the respondents, the only other
    question which could have been examined in all
    probabilities was one relating to the manner in which the
    earlier order came to be passed by the Tehsildar, which
F   was found to be not properly done as held by the Single
    Judge of the High Court in order dated 01.02.2005 in the
    Writ Petitions, which disclosed that there were certain
    serious irregularities or malpractices in the passing of the
    order by the Tehsildar dated 28.8.2004 and the
G   consequential Mahazar dated 31.8.2004.[Para 14) [826-G-
    H; 827-A-F]
      3. The impugned order is not sustainable in view of
  the order dated 13.2.2009 and the limited scope of
  consideration directed to be made thereby, while remitting
H the matter back to the Division Bench. The Tehsildar, had
 NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA S.M.K.MUTT v. C.P. 819
                   KAVEERAMMA

 every jurisdiction to deal with application of the appellant   A
 for working out its remedy based on the grant of
 occupancy rights in its favour in the proceeding dated
 11.2.1993, which has become final and conclusive. Since
 it was extensively pointed out by the Single Judge in the
 order dated 1.2.2005, as well as in the present impugned       B
 order highlighting the malpractices indulged in by the
 Tehsildar, while passing the order directing possession
 in favour of the appellant and while upholding the order
 of the Single Judge, the order of remand passed by the
Single Judge stands restored. However, it is clarified that     c
the only issue which can be examined by the Tehsildar
can be with regard to the claim of the appellant for
 restoring possession based on the grant of occupancy
rights in its favour, by the proceeding dated 11.2.1993. It
 is further made clear that this order of remand to the
                                                                0
Tehsildar, shall not entitle the respondents to raisl! any
·issue relating to the jurisdiction of the Tehsildar, in
particular, based on the mortgages of the year 1955 and
1967. [Para 18] [829-8-F]
     Mohammad Swal/eh and Ors. vs. /I/rd Addi. District         E
Judge, Meerut and Anr. AIR 1988 SC 94: 1988 (1) SCR 840
- referred to.
                     Case Law Reference:
    1988 (1) SCR 840         referred to          Para 16       F

    CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos.
4150-4163 of 2013.

    From t~e Judgment & Order dated 15.6.2009 of the High
Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in Writ Appeal Nos. 1936-40,    G
1941-45, 1946-48 and 2202 of 2005.

    S.M. Chandrashekhar, Nishanth Patil, Girish G.N., Nizam
Pasha, S.K. Sabharwal for the Appellant.
                                                                H
    820      SUPREME COURT REPORTS               [2013] 8 S.C.R.


A       P. Vishwanatha Shetty, Sharan Devn Sing Thakur, A.S.
    Ponnanna, Vijaykumar Pardesi, V.N. Raghupathy, Lagnesh
    Mishra, Dr. Sushil Balwada, Sanjay R. Hegde for the
    Respondents.

          The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
B
          FAKKIR MOHAMED IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, J. 1.
  Unsuccessful appellant in the Writ Appeal before the Division
  Bench of the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore is the
  appellant before us. This appeal is directed against the
C common judgment in W.A. Nos. 1936/2005 (LR} along with W.A.
  Nos. 1941/2005, 1946/2005 and 2202 of 2005(LR}. The
  appellant is a religious Mutt called 'Kannada Mutt'. Land of 197
  acres was granted as Jagir to the Mutt in Survey Nos. 9, 10,
  12 and 13 of Bettegeri village, Ammathy Hobli, Virajpet Taluk,
D Coorg District in the year 1809 by the then Ruler of Kodagu,
  Sri Veerarajendra Wodeyar. By a mortgage deed dated
  1.3.1955, the predecessor of present Mathadhipathi stated to
  have mortgaged possession of 175.60 acres out of 197 acres
  of lands in favour of the predecessor-in-title of the present
E contesting respondents. By yet another mortgage deed dated
  5.4.1967, a second mortgage deed in favour of the very same
  parties in respect of 17 acres of land was stated to have been
  made. The mortgages were made for a period of 99 years.

       2. Be that as it may, on 18.5.1978, Karnataka Certain
F lnams Abolition Act, 1977 (hereinafter called as the "1977 Act"}
  came into force and the effective date was 01.03.1974. By
  virtue of Section 4(2}(b} of the 1977 Act all lnams that were
  existing on that date stood abolished with effect from
  01.03.1974, namely, the effective date. After the coming into
G force of the 1977 Act, the Mutt filed an application on
  25.6.1987 for grant of occupancy rights in respect of the entire
  lands. By order dated 11.02.1993, ·the appellant's application
  was allowed by the Land Tribunal. The respondents, based on
  the rights flowing from the mortgage deeds, also claimed
H occupancy rights on the ground that they were the ten~nts of
NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA S.M.K.MUTI v. C.P. 821
KAVEERAMMA [FAKKIR MOHAMED IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, J.]

the land in question. Their application was rejected. There was         A
a challenge at the instance of the respondents to the grant of
occupancy rights in favour of the appellant, as well as, the
rejection of their rights in W.P.No.6379/1993. The Writ petition
was allowed by the learned Single Judge and the grant of
occupancy rights in favour of the appellant was set aside. The          B
appellant filed Writ Appeal No. 5689/1997 and the respondent
also challenged the very same order by filing Writ Appeal No.
5816/1997.

      3. The appeal filed by the appellant was allowed and the          C
order of the Learned Single Judge was set aside and the order
of the learned Tribunal granting occupancy rights in favour of
the appellant was restored. The respondents' Writ Appeal was
dismissed. It is relevant to note that the said order of the Division
Bench was not challenged further by the respondents and,
thereby, grant of occupancy rights in favour of the appellant was       D
confirmed. Subsequently, Form No.2 - Certificate was also
issued in favour of the appellant on 15.4.2000 representing the
Mutt.

     4. By virtue of Section 3(2) of the 1977 Act, the words and        E
expressions used, but not defined in the 1977 Act, shall have
the meaning assigned to them under the Act or the Karnataka
Land Reforms Act, 1961. Under Section 11, the procedure for
registration as an occupant has been set out, which states that
every person entitled to be registered as an occupant under             F
the 1977 Act, should make an application to the Tribunal
constituted under the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 on
or before 31st day of March, 1991 and that the said application
should be disposed of by the Tribunal as if it is an application
made under that Act. Under Section 41(2) of the Karnataka               G
Land Reforms Act, 1961, the procedure has been prescribed
as to how a landlord should obtain the possession of any land,
dwelling house or site held by a tenant, except under the order
of the Tehsildar by making application under the prescribed
format. Under Section 126 of the 1961 Act, it is specified that         H
    822      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                  [2013] 8 S.C.R


A for the removal of doubts, it was declared that provisions of the
  1961 Act, insofar as they confer any rights or impose
  obligations on tenants and landlords, shall be applicable to
  tenants holding lands in the lnam and other alienated villages
  or lands including tenants referred to in Section 8 of the Village
B offices' Abolition Act, 1961, subject to the provisions of the
  1977 Act and to landlords and lnamdar holding in such villages
  or lands. Section 130 of the 1961 Act empowers the Tehsildar
  concerned to summarily evict any person unauthorizedly
  occupying or wrongfully in possession of any land and also to
c make such orders as regards to the disposal of such land, as
  it deems fit. Section 132 of the 1961 Act bars the jurisdiction
  of other Courts to settle, decide or deal with any question, which
  is by or under the 1961 Act required to be settled, decided or
  dealt with by the authorities concerned.
D      5. The appellant approached the Tehsildar of Virajpet Taluk
  alleging that the respondents were in unauthorised possession
  and having regard to the coming into force of 1977 Act w.e.f.
  1.3.1974 and the order of the Land Tribunal dated 11.2.1993,
  they are liable to be evicted and the possession to be handed
E over to the appellant. By order dated 28.8.2004, the Tehsildar
  allowed the appellant's application and directed eviction of the
  respondents. Based on the said order, the appellant was put
  in possession by the Mahazar, drawn by Revenue Inspector of
  Ammathy Hobli on 31.8.2004. The handing over of the
F possession of the lands in question was effected in the
  presence of the Tehsildar Virajpet Taluk, Hosur circle and the
  Panchayatdars.

       6. The respondents challenged the said order of the
G Tehsildar in Writ Petition No.36175/2004 & 36529-32/2004.
   The Single Judge among other issues, considered the question
   about the jurisdiction of the Tehsildar and held that the Tribunal
 · under the Land Revenue Act had jurisdiction over the lands in
   question and that the Tehsildar was entitled to consider the
H application of the appellant filed in Forrn No.5. However, the
 NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA S.M.K.MUTT v. C.P. 823
 KAVEERAMMA [FAKKIR MOHAMED IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, J.]

Learned Judge found that there were serious irregularities in       A
the matter of passing of the order by the Tehsildar and
consequently, while setting aside the order of the Tehsildar,
directed re-delivery of possession to the respondents pending
final orders and further directed the Tehsildar to consider the
case afresh on merits and take an independent decision in           B
accordance with law after hearing the parties and pass orders
within four months from the date of the order of the Learned.
Judge, which was dated 1.2.2005.

     7. The appellant preferred appeals against the said order
in Writ Appeal Nos.1946-48/2005, which were considered by           C
the Division Bench along with Writ Appeal Nos.1936-40/2005
and 1941-45/2005. The Division Bench passed orders on
12.9.2007 holding that the provisions of the Land Reforms Act
were not applicable to the case on hand and, therefore,
exercise of jurisdiction by the Tehsildar under the provisions of   D
Land Reforms Act, was bad in law and without jurisdiction. The
order of the Tehsildar was set aside and consequently the order
of the Learned Single Judge was also set aside. The appellant
preferred Civil Appeal Nos.1040-53/2009 against the said
common order of the Division Bench dated 12.9.2007. The Civil       E
Appeals were allowed by this Court by order dated 13.2.2009.

      8. In the said Civil Appeals, contentions were raised on
behalf of the respondents by relying upon Section 43 of the
Transfer of Property Act, apart from contending that the            F
respondents were entitled to rely upon the mortgage executed
in their favour in the year 1955 and 1967. It was also contended
that by virtue of Section 10 of 1977 Act, the respondents were
entitled to rely upon the mortgage granted in their favour by the
appellant Mutt. While allowing the Civil Appeals and setting        G
aside the order of the Division Bench, this Court considered
all the above submissions raised on behalf of the respondents
and rejected them. It was lastly pleaded before this Court that
apart from Section 43 of the Transfer of Property Act and
Section 4(2)(b) of the 1977 Act, there were other submissions
                                                                    H
    824         SUPREME COURT REPORTS               [2013] 8 S.C.R.

A made by the respondents, which were not considered by the
  High Court. Taking note of the above submissions made on
  behalf of the respondents, even while allowing the Civil Appeals
  and without expressing any opinion about the acceptability of
  any such stand, the judgment of the Division Bench was set
B aside and the matter was remitted back to the High Court for
  fresh consideration making it clear that the issue relating to the
  applicability of Section 43 stood closed by virtue of the
  judgment.

       9. It is in the abovesaid background, the present impugned
C order of the Division Bench dated 15.6.2009, has been passed
  wherein, the Division Bench proceeded to examine the
  following two issues, namely:

          "1.     Whether an lnamdar who has been granted
D                 occupancy rights under the lnam Abolition Act can
                  invoke Section 41 to recover possession from a
                  person who is not a tenant of the land in question?

          2.      Whether the order passed by the Tahsildar is
                  sustainable on merits?"
E
        10. While dealing with the above issues, the Division
  Bench proceeded to hold that Section 41 of the Kamataka Land
  Reforms Act, which prescribed the procedure for taking
  possession, was not applicable, inasmuch as, the jural
F relationship of landlord and tenant between the appellant and
  respondents did not exist. While dealing with Section 126 of
  the Land Reforms Act, the Division Bench took the view that
  the said provision can have no application to a case where
  rights of a mortgagee in possession were prevailing. In the light
G of the above conclusion, the Division Bench held that Section
  130 of the Land Reforms Act for summary eviction of any
  person in unauthorised occupation, cannot also be invoked.
  Ultimately, on Point No.2, the Division Bench taking note of the
  serious irregularities committed by the Tehsildar in passing the
H order took the view that such order came to be passed by the
 NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA S.M.K.MUTI v. C.P. 825
 KAVEERAMMA [FAKKIR MOHAMED IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, J.)

Tehsildar by manipulating proceedings and, therefore, set            A
aside the order of the Tehsildar and also held that no remand
was called for. The appeals filed by the appellant were
dismissed and the appeal filed by the respondent was allowed.
The application of the appellant filed in Form No.5 under the
Land Reforms Act, was rejected as not maintainable. The              B
Division Bench also imposed costs to be paid by the Tehsildar
in the sum of Rs. 10,000/- to the respondents.

     11. We heard Mr. S.M. Chandrashekhar, learned senior
counsel for the appellant and Mr. P. Vishwanatha Shetty,
learned senior counsel for the respondents. We also perused          C
the earlier orders passed by this Court by which the matter was
remitted back to the Division Bench to consider some of the
submissions other than what were earlier made and covered
by the orders of this Court.
                                                                     D
      12. The main grievance of the appellant was that after
securing occupancy rights under the provisions of the 1977 Act,
since by virtue of Section 4(2)(b), all encumbrances created
 prior to coming into force of the Act having been extinguished
statutorily, and the lands having been vested with the State, free   E
from all encumbrances before the grant of occupancy rights in
favour of the appellant, no further right could .have existed in
favour of the respondents, in order to make a claim based on
the mortgages of the year 1955 and 1967. Apart from the said
claim in all other respects, there was no right in the respondents   F
since their claim for occupancy right was rejected as early as
on 11.2.1993, when the said rights of the appellant came to be
crystallized by the said date under the provisions of the 1977
Act. Though the said order was challenged by the respondents,
the challenge was not accepted and thereby, the issue became         G
concluded once and for all. Thereafter, the only other question
to be considered was as to how the said crystallized rights of
the appellant under the provisions of the 1977 Act, is to be
worked out for restoring its possession in the lands in question.
Though the appellant stated to have invoked Section 41 of the        H
             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                  [2013] 8 S.C.R.
    826

A Land Reforms Act to work out its remedy for getting
  possession, when it came to the question of ascertaining the
  jurisdiction of the Tehsildar to examine the claim of the appellant
  for restoring possession, the respondents once again projected
  their claim based on the mortgages of the year 1955 and 1967
B and further stated that the respondents were neither a tenant,
   nor can they be held to be in unauthorised possession, in order
   to invoke Section 130 of the Land Reforms Act.

        13. In the earlier round of litigation, these very issues were
  examined by both the Learned Single Judge as well as by the
C Division Bench of the High Court. As noted by us earlier, the
  learned single Judge rejected the stand of the respondents
  about the lack of jurisdiction of the Tehsildar but nonetheless,
  set aside the order of the Tehsildar on the sole ground that there
  was serious malpractice in the passing of the ultimate order,
D directing handing over of the possession. The learned Judge,
  therefore, set aside that part of the order and remitted the
  matter back for passing fresh orders. However, the Division
  Bench proceeded to hold that the Tehsildar lacked jurisdiction
  since the rights of the respondents as mortgagee, prescribed
E a different status for the respondents and consequently the
  invocation of Section 41 or Section 130 CJf the Land Reforms
  Act, could not have been invoked. It was at that stage, the issue
  came to be considered by this Court in Civil Appeal Nos.1040-
  1053/2009 in the order dated 13.2.2009.
F
         14. The substantial issues dealt with by the Division Bench
   in its earlier order dated 12.9.2007, which examined the
  question of jurisdiction of the Tehsildar, while considering the
  claim of the respondents based on Section 43 of the Transfer
G of Property Act; based on concept 'feeding the grant by
  estoppal', accepted the stand of the respondents. At that
  junction, this Court found that by virtue of Section 4(2)(b) of the
   1977 Act, the said submission based on Section 43 of the
  Transfer of Property Act, by relying upon the mortgages of the
H year 1955 and 1967, cannot survive. Even the submission
NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA S.M.K.MUTT v. C.P. 827
KAVEERAMMA [FAKKIR MOHAMED IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, J.]

 based on Section 10 of the 1977 Act was also rejected. Though A
what exactly were the other submissions which were not
considered by the Division Bench were not specifically noted,
in our considered view, there could not have been any
submission relating to the jurisdiction of the Tehsildar' for
working out or implementing the grant of occupancy rights B
granted in favour of the appellant, by order dated 11.2.1993.
In that context, the power of the Tehsildar to invoke Section 130
of the Land Reforms Act for granting the relief cannot be held
to be not sustainable. Unfortunately, after the remand, we find
that by framing the two issues in the order impugned in these c
appeals, which have been extracted in the earlier part of our
order, the Division Bench proceeded to reopen the very same
questions, which were already dealt with in substratum in the
earlier judgment of this Court dated 13.2.2009. When once this
Court held that Section 43 of the Transfer of Property Act could D
not come to the aid of the respondents, any right based on the
mortgages of the year 1955 and 1967 no longer survived for .
consideration. Since Section 10 of the 1977 Act was also held
to be not applicable to the case of the respondents, the only
other question which could have been examined in all
probabilities was one relating to the manner in which the earlier E
order came to be passed by the Tehsildar, which was found to
be not properly done as held by the Learned Single Judge in
order dated 01.02.2005 in the Writ Petitions, which disclosed
that there were certain serious irregularities or malpractices in
the passing of the order by the Tehsildar dated 28.8.2004 and F
the consequential Mahazar dated 31.8.2004. In fact, the
Learned Single Judge rightly set aside the above orders of the
Tehsildar on that ground and remitted the matter back to the
Tehsildar for passing fresh orders in accordance with law.
                                                                  G
     15. We are convinced that in the light of our above
conclusions, it will have to be held that the continued
possession of the respondents after the grant of occupancy
rights in favour of the appellant in the order dated 11.2.1993,
should be construed as unauthorized and there was every right H
    828      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [2013) 8 S.C.R.


A   in the appellant to invoke the protection of the Land Reforms
    Act for the purpose of working out its remedy by taking recourse
    to law for implementing the order dated 11.2.1993.

          16. In this context, it will be worthwhile to refer to the
    d~cision of this Court reported in Mohammad Swal/eh & Ors.
8
    V. II/rd Addi. District Judge, Meerut & Anr. -AIR 1988 SC 94.
    In paragraph 7 while dealing with a converse case, this court
    held as under:

          "7. It was contended before the High Court that no appeal
c          lay from the decision of the Prescribed Authority to the
           District Judge. The High Court accepted this contention.
          The High Court finally held that though the appeal laid
          before the District Judge, the order of the Prescribed
          Authority was invalid and was rightly set aside by the
D          District Judge. On that ground the High Court declined to
          interfere with the order of the learned District Judge. It is
          true that there has been some technical breach because
          if there is no appeal maintainable before the learned
          District Judge, in the appeal before the learned District
E         Judge, the same could not be set aside. But the High Court
          was exercising its jurisdiction under Art.226 of the
          Constitution. The High Court had come to the conclusion
          that the order of the Prescribed Authority was invalid and
          improper. The High Court itself could have set it aside.
F         Therefore, in the facts and circumstances of the case
          justice has been done though, as mentioned hereinbefore,
          technically the appellant had a point that the order of the
          District Judge was illegal and improper. If we reiterate the
          order of the High Court as it is setting aside the order of
          the Prescribed Authority in exercise of the jurisdiction
G
          under Art.226 of the Constitution then no exception can be
          taken. As mentioned hereinbefore, justice has been done
          and as the improper order of the Prescribed Authority has
          been set aside, no objection can be taken."

H
 NI PRA CHANNABASAVA DESHIKENDRA S.M.K.MUTT v. C.P. 829
 KAVEERAMMA [FAKKIR MOHAMED IBRAHIM KALIFULLA, J.]

      17. Applying the above said principle, we are also            A
convinced that the appellant by invoking the extraordinary
jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 can seek for
passing a justiciable order.

     18. Having regard to our above conclusion based on the         B
earlier order dated 13.2.2009 and the limited scope of
consideration directed to be made, while remitting the matter
back to the Division Bench, the present order of the Division
Bench cannot be sustained. We also hold that the Tehsildar,
had every jurisdiction to deal with application of the appellant    C
for working out its remedy based on the grant of occupancy
rights in its favour in the proceeding dated 11.2.1993, which
has become final and conclusive. Since it was extensively
pointed out by the learned Single Judge in the order dated
1.2.2005, as well as in the present impugned order highlighting
the malpractices indulged in by the Tehsildar, while passing the    D
order directing possession in favour of the appellant and while
upholding the order of the learned Single Judge referred to
above, the order of remand passed by the learned Single Judge
stands restored. We, however, make it clear that the only issue
which can be examined by the Tehsildar can be with regard to        E
the claim of the appellant for restoring possession based on
the grant of occupancy rights in its favour, by the proceeding
dated 11.2.1993. It is further made clear that this order of
remand to the Tehsildar, shall not entitle the respondents to
raise any issue relating to the jurisdiction of the Tehsildar, in   F
particular, based on the mortgages of the year 1955 and 1967.

     19. The appeals stand allowed with the above directions.
In light of the fact that the issue is pending for nearly two
decades, we direct the Tehsildar to hear the parties and after      G
giving due opportunity to put forth their submissions, pass final
orders in accordance with law expeditiously, preferably within
three months from the date of receipt of copy of this order.

K.K.T.                                        Appeals allowed.
                                                                    H