Karnataka HC upholds 1980 land tribunal order in Pattandur Agrahara lake bed dispute

The Karnataka High Court has dismissed appeals by the State of Karnataka and the Namma Whitefield RWA Federation Trust, upholding a single judge's order that declined to reopen a 45-year-old Land Tribunal decision granting occupancy rights over 11 acres and 20 guntas of land in Pattandur Agrahara village.

The Division Bench of Justices D.K. Singh and H. Shanthi Bhushan affirmed the November 19, 2025 verdict, which had rejected writ petitions by the government and the Trust challenging the Tribunal's 1980 order. The appellants had contended that the land is 'Kere Angala' — lake bed — of Pattandur Agrahara lake.

Both the single judge and the Division Bench held that the challenge was barred by delay and laches and by constructive res judicata, noting that the legality of private rights over the land had already been upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court in earlier proceedings arising from a civil suit.

The disputed land in survey number 54 was transacted through sale deeds dating back to 1918 and was eventually purchased by H.B. Munivenkatappa in 1960. After the Mysore (Personal and Miscellaneous) Inams Abolition Act, 1954, came into force, the land vested in the State. Munivenkatappa applied for a re-grant, and on December 27, 1980, the Tribunal granted him occupancy rights after collecting the necessary premium.

An eviction notice issued by the tahsildar in 1979 was quashed by the High Court in 1987, and the State's appeal was dismissed in 1988. In 1993, Munivenkatappa filed a civil suit seeking a declaration that the land was 'Hiduvali' (dry land) and not a tank bed; the civil court decreed in favour of his legal heirs in 1995.

The State government then approached the High Court in 2004, which remanded the matter to the civil court. In 2008, the civil court again ruled in favour of the grantees. The government moved the High Court, which in 2016 affirmed the civil court's order, and the Supreme Court decided in favour of Munivenkatappa's legal heirs in 2018, also dismissing the government's review petition in 2019.

In 2018, the government filed a petition challenging the Tribunal's 1980 order, arguing that the land was government tank bed area, that the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction, and that the genuineness of the order was questionable as the original copy was unavailable. The single judge dismissed this petition in November 2025, with the Trust impleaded as a party. The Division Bench has now affirmed that decision.