The special court for land-grabbing cases will lose jurisdiction to entertain a complaint when the landowners are put in possession of the land through a lawfully registered sale deed, as such issues would require adjudication as “a pure and simple suit for title” by the competent courts, said the High Court of Karnataka.
A Division Bench comprising Justice G. Narendar and Justice Vijaykumar A. Patil made these observations while hearing a petition filed by M.A. Mohammed Sanaullah and others from Devanahalli near Bengaluru.
The petitioners had questioned the legality of the proceedings initiated by the Forest Department in 2020 before the special court for land-grabbing cases under the provisions of the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act for allegedly grabbing forest lands.
