Bengaluru : The Karnataka State Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission has no power to decide disputes over the title or the status of immovable property.It( Commission )cannot declare land to be forest or non-forest land. It cannot order deletion of the entries of the Forest Department from the revenue records. It cannot order the mutation or transfer of khata. Such power does not arise merely because the person coming to the Commission belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe,the Karnataka High Court has further observed in its judgement passed on August 7 while allowing the petition filed by the state government.The controversy originated from an order passed by the Commission on May 18,2023 directing the authorities that certain parcels of land at Seebi Agrahara Village, Kallambella Hobli, Sira Taluk, be deleted from the revenue records maintained in the name of the Forest Department. The Commission further declared that the said lands do not constitute forest land and directed the competent Revenue Authorities to effect mutation and enter the khata in the names of AR Ramanna and others .The state government had moved the High Court challenging the order, contending that the Commission had exceeded its jurisdiction .The government further argued that lands in question in fact form part of 990 acres of forest land notified in 1947 itself under the Mysore Forest Regulation,1900.After perusing the materials on record, including the statement and objects of the Karnataka State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act, Justice Suraj Govindaraj pointed out that the Commission is only a recommendatory body.“ The Commission is not a parallel court. It is an investigating and recommending body. It may inquire into the denial of constitutional and legal safeguards. It may take up such matters with the proper authorities. It cannot decide disputes of title. It cannot order mutation or transfer of khata. It cannot declare notified forest land to be non-forest land. It cannot order deletion of the entries of the Forest Department. To do any of these is to use a power that the statute has not given to the Commission,” the judge further added while quashing the order passed by the Commission.
