Raghav (Personal) 29 April 2013

Apartment purchase constructed on inam land belongs to sc/st

Dear Lawyers,

I have narrowed on a under construction property and paid the booking amount. Property is in Bengaluru Karnataka.

After consulting my family lawyer, he outrightly rejected the property stating it as SC/ST grant land.

Few points from the documents:-

1. Title starts from "Inam Land" in 1960 and the original person got registered as permanent tenant under section 5 of the Mysore Inams abolition act 1954 without premium. Document title is as "Occupancy Land Rights in XXXX Village, XXXX Taluk.

2. The legal heirs of the original person, sold the land to a non SC/ST person in 2006 via a sale deed.

3. Endorsement stating "No proceedings pending under provisions of Karnataka PTCL Act.

4. Legal opinion is provided with a big disclaimer stating it will not be valid in any court under any litigations.

5. Bhoomi website RTC when checked for Sy nos reflects the name of some government body under ownership.

I am confused whether to go ahead or to cancel.

Please share some inputs.

Regards

Raghav

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3 Replies

S Jadhav 98336 98330 (Jadhav & Associates) 02 February 2014

Agricultural land belonging to SC/ST could be either a part of the Inami land they had or the land that the person bought with their own income.

When a person buys land and owns them, the occupant class is shown as 1 in the records.

When the land is part of the Inami land, the SC/ST person can occupy and till the land but is shown as Occupant class 2 i.e. all occupancy rights are with the person but any transfer to anyone has requires the permission of the collector. This was doen so that non SC/STs cannot cheat the SC/STs and buy/transfer their land. The collector is supposed to keep a check on this so that the proper consideration/price is paid. Also, the land is first tried to be sold to the immediate family or another SC/ST family if possible. When the authorities are satisfied then it can be sold with their permission. Also, since the land owner is considered to be the government, the government takes a share of the consideration (which is called Nazarana). The land can then be transferred.

The land has to be converted to NA before using it for non-agricultural use. Only a small farm house (upto the maximum extent of 1500 sq ft subject to conditions) can be built in agricultural land.

If the built up area is more then it may be illegal to purchase the apartment, if built on agricultural land.

If the land is converted to NA, then SC/ST rules don't apply.

Hence, please check accordingly.