The High Court of Karnataka on Monday dismissed the state government’s appeal with regard to the land granted to cine artiste B M Upendra Kumar (Upendra).
The state government challenged the single bench order which favoured the actor, who had bought agricultural land in 2005 measuring 17.10 acres in Bylalu village, Tavarekere hobli, Bengaluru South taluk. The Assistant Commissioner (AC) had issued a notice to the actor asking him to return the land to the government as he had violated provisions of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1974. The actor had contended that he bought the land in his father’s name B N Manjunatha Rao as ‘kartha’ (head of the family ) and the actor’s name is mentioned as lender. The AC said that such claims cannot be accepted.
The AC, in the notice, said that it is a well known fact that Upendra is a reputable and famous cine actor. His income from sources other than agriculture cannot be said to be less than Rs 2 lakh. Even without documentary evidence, any layman could say that the annual income other than agriculture is more than Rs 2 lakh.
The state government had brought in an amendment to Section 79A and B (income to purchase agricultural land) of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1974. The sections of the Act deal with non-agricultural source of income limit which was increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 25 lakh to purchase agricultural land. The amendment was gazette notified on August 13, 2015 and the legislature has also stated that the amendment shall come into effect “on from the commencement of 2015 Amendment”. The single judge had passed an order favouring Upendra by bringing retrospective effect to the amendment.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar dismissed the state government’s appeal on the grounds that the authorities took action against Upendra after a delay of more than two years.