Supreme Court rules Karnataka land revision beyond 3-year limit invalid

The case concerns whether the Joint Director/Registrar of Land Records in Karnataka could exercise revisional jurisdiction under Section 56 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, to cancel an earlier order and direct a re-enquiry regarding land ownership, despite the expiry of the three-year limitation period prescribed in the proviso to Section 56(3).

Who it concerns: Appellants: M.R.R. Setty (Dead), by Legal Representatives; Respondents: Government of Karnataka and others; Bench: Justice Sanjay Kumar.

What the court decided

• The Court held that the Limitation Act, 1963, does not apply to negate the specific three-year limitation prescribed in the proviso to Section 56(3) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964.
• The Court rejected the Government's reliance on Section 52 of the Act of 1964 and the amended Section 25 (inherent powers) as inapplicable to the administrative allotment of City Title Survey numbers.
• The Court affirmed that the revisional power under Section 56(1) could only be exercised within three years from the date of the order sought to be revised, if no appeal had been preferred.
• The Court noted that the allotment of CTS numbers in 1974 was an administrative exercise, not a quasi-judicial determination by a Revenue Court, thus excluding the application of inherent powers under Section 25.

Also in the document

• The Court observed that the notice issued in 2014 was well beyond the three-year period stipulated in the proviso to Section 56(3) from the 1974 allotment of CTS numbers.
• The Court stated it was 'at a loss to understand' how Section 52 of the Act of 1964 aided the Government's case, as the matter concerned revisional power, not appeals.
• The Court cited precedents (State of Gujarat vs. Patil Raghav Natha and SEBI v. Sunil Krishna Khaitan) to support the principle that authorities must exercise power within a reasonable period even if no specific limitation is prescribed, though here a specific limitation existed.