Mysuru Buyer’s Revenue Entry Restored After Karnataka HC Quashes PTCL Resumption Order Over Nearly 20-Year Delay

The land was granted to the original grantee in 1979 and sold by registered sale deed in 2003. The petitioner purchased it in 2023. Resumption proceedings were initiated in 2023, nearly 20 years after the 2003 sale.

The Assistant Commissioner rejected the resumption petition, but the Deputy Commissioner allowed the appeal and ordered resumption. The petitioner challenged the Deputy Commissioner’s order by writ petition.

The Court applied the principle that delay and laches are material considerations in proceedings seeking resumption or restoration of granted land, and that action commenced after a significant delay may be barred by laches.

It referred to a Division Bench’s clarification that laches should be treated as a primary requirement in resumption proceedings, but the judgment does not identify the precedent by name or citation.

No specific statutory provision is identified in the order.

The Court found that the sale occurred in 2003 and resumption proceedings began only in 2023, after rights in the land had been settled by the registered sale deed.

Although the Assistant Commissioner had rejected the resumption petition, the Deputy Commissioner ordered resumption without adequately considering the delay or the petitioner’s contention that the proceedings were initiated after an unreasonable period. Because laches was a crucial and relevant consideration, the Deputy Commissioner’s order could not legally stand.

The Court allowed the writ petition and issued a writ of certiorari quashing the Deputy Commissioner’s order dated 12 November 2025. It directed the concerned authority to restore the petitioner’s name in the revenue records relating to the subject land.