Govt can’t take back land from Graphite India, says HC

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru

The High Court has said that there is no enforceable law by which the Government can take back the 43 acres of land granted to Graphite India for establishment of a factory in 1972. It has dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) which sought the government to take back the land as the factory was closed in 2019.

The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) had allotted 43 acres 33 guntas of land to Graphite India Limited at Doddanekkundi village, KR Puram, Bengaluru in 1972. An absolute sale deed was executed in 1987. In 2012, the factory put up on this land was ordered by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to be shut down for polluting the environment.

After the factory was shut down in 2019, the PIL came to be filed in 2021 by advocate NP Amrutesh who said the company was “trying to dispose of the Schedule Property for commercial purposes.” The PIL sought that the land should be taken back by the KIADB “and allot the same to new entrepreneurs, manufacturing units or use the same as a major lung space of the locality.”

 The HC however said that the use of land was left to the company. “The absolute sale deed executed in its favour is without any restriction on utilization of the land and even if there is any restriction, the same would be void under Section 11 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.” The court said that the company had used the property for the purpose it was granted for 46 years.

“The contention of the Senior Counsel for the petitioner that after the closure of the industry, the Schedule Property has to revert back to the Government or the land should be brought to sale by the State Government by public auction, etc., cannot be accepted and the same is liable to be rejected,” the HC said. Dismissing the PIL, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty said, “When the petitioner has failed to establish any legally enforceable right or its infringement and when he has also failed to point out that the respondent-authorities have failed or neglected to perform their statutory duties, the prayers made by the petitioner for issuing writ of mandamus cannot be granted.”