Buyer Of Disputed Farmland Loses Appeal After Buying During Suit, As Karnataka HC Upholds Farmer’s Title

Hemaraddi brought a suit seeking declaration of title to, and an injunction concerning, 7 acres 20 guntas in R.S. No. 96/2+3, claiming ownership under sale deeds dated 29 June 1972 and 17 April 1973

The defendants disputed his exclusive ownership, asserting that the property had been purchased by his father in Hemaraddi’s name and that Hemaraddi and Venkaraddi held it jointly; they also relied on revenue entries and an alleged partition

The trial court decreed the suit, and the first appellate court dismissed Defendant No. 3’s appeal

Defendant No. 3, who had purchased part of the property during the suit, filed this second appeal

Section 100 CPC confines a second appeal to cases involving a substantial question of law; concurrent factual findings are not reopened merely to reweigh evidence unless they are shown to be perverse or otherwise raise such a question

Under Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, a transferee pendente lite is bound by the decree or judgment in the pending suit, even if unaware of it

Mutation or revenue entries do not confer title; title must be established through legally relevant title evidence

The judgment cites no precedent.

The plaintiff produced the two sale deeds, and the defendants did not dispute that the purchases were made in his name. The defendants failed to prove that his father had purchased the property for him or that it was ancestral or joint-family property

The testimony of PW-2 that there was no ancestral property and that the plaintiff possessed the suit property exclusively was not challenged in cross-examination

The revenue entries were disputed, and the alleged partition was not established; neither could displace the title evidence

Because Defendant No. 3 purchased part of the property while the suit was pending, Section 52 bound him to the suit’s outcome.

The appellant’s arguments sought a reappraisal of evidence, which did not disclose perversity or a substantial question of law

It dismissed the regular second appeal and directed that pending applications stand disposed of