The High Court of Karnataka has upheld constitutional validity of the Karnataka Conferment of Ownership on Mulageni or Volamulageni Tenants Act, 2011, which was enacted to give full ownership on the tenants or lessee/sub-tenants or sub-lessee of non-agricultural lands on payment of compensation to be determined by the competent authority on normative basis.
Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order while dismissing the petitions filed by Clearence Pais of Mangaluru and several others, including Diocese of Mangalore, six of the Udupi’s eight mutts, Mulgars and Land Owners Association from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district.
A mulageni in the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi (erstwhile South Canara) is a kind of permanent lease or a lease in perpetuity; and the lessor is called ‘mulgar’ or ‘mulidar’; the lessee is called ‘mulagenidar’; and sub-lessee who is in possession, is called ‘volamulagenidar’ in the ‘mulageni’ system.
