The Legislative Assembly passed five Bills on Wednesday, including the Registration (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2023, that aims to punish officers who authorise property transactions based on forged or other documents prohibited under the law.
All Bills were passed amid pandemonium in the House without a debate.
According to the Bill, the registering officer (usually a sub-registrar) should refuse to register documents that are forged, prohibited by any Central or State Act and those belonging to immovable properties that are permanently or provisionally attached by any court, tribunal or competent authority such as investigation agencies. The Bill proposed to punish officers with imprisonment up to three years with a fine.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said documents of sites allocated to several MLAs and people across the State have been forged and sold to third persons by manufacturing fake documents. This has led to court cases and delayed justice to many families.
What is exempted
However, registration of documents made in “good faith” is exempted. The Bill defined that “good faith” as any act done “with due care, caution and sense of responsibility or by mistake of fact believing himself justified by law”.
Further, the Bill proposed to punish companies involved in fraudulent registration of documents. Also, the Bill empowered district registrars to cancel property registrations if they are fraudulent.
Land conversion
The Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed in the House to make conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes unnecessary in planned areas.
Mr. Gowda said the Master Plan issued for the area automatically ensures conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. “The permission of the Deputy Commissioner shall not be required for diversion of lands for non-agricultural purposes, if such lands assessed or held for the purpose of agriculture, is as per the land use as specified in the Master Plan duly published,” said the Bill.
If lands fall outside the local planning area where there is no master plan, then the applicant should submit an affidavit. If the Deputy Commissioner does not issue an order within 30 days, then the diversion or conversion is deemed approved.
The Bill is “to enable conversion of agricultural land for non agricultural purposes by way of self-declaration,” Mr. Gowda stated.
The Karnataka Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was also passed to constitute a common cadre of employees at cooperative societies. “Constitution of a common cadre is essential to reduce the cases of misappropriation of money in the Primary Agricultural Co-Operative societies,” the Bill said.
The Bill would help provide quality services to farmers and milk producers “impartially without being under any pressure from the governing body.”
Civil procedure
The government also amended the Code of Civil Procedure requiring courts to ensure speedy disposal of cases involving small farmers and persons belonging to the economically weaker sections. The Code of Civil Procedure (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2023, aims to provide for speedy disposal of cases in which persons having no sustained strength to fight prolonged litigation in courts are involved, Minister H.K. Patil said.
The Bill seeks to provide relief to small or marginal farmers and persons of economically weaker sections (whose income from all sources does not exceed ₹50,000 in a year).
According to the Bill, any lawsuit or other proceeding in any court involving a small farmer or a person belonging to the economically weaker section either as plaintiff or as defendant should be taken up on priority over other cases listed for the day. The Bill expected courts to hear and dispose of cases “as far as possible within six months”.
Litigation Bill
The Assembly also passed a Bill to streamline government litigation. The Karnataka Conduct of Government Litigation Bill seeks to make government litigation more effective.
There are rules, orders, notifications, circulars etc. with regard to conduct of State litigations before the law courts and statutory tribunals in the State. Further, it is considered necessary to enact effective legislation to ensure efficient and responsible conduct of government litigation before the law courts and statutory tribunals in the State, Mr. Patil said.
The Bill said committees will be formed at the State- and district-levels to monitor the stand of the government in each case, verify written arguments and suggest modifications, if any.
