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Karnataka HC imposes Rs 1 lakh fine in 20-year-old property dispute, says waste of judicial time must be dealt with using ‘iron hands’

The decades-long legal battle over 3 acres of Bengaluru land involved the family of two brothers and a rival claimant, who allegedly forged documents.

3 min readBengaluruUpdated: Jan 7, 2026 02:57 PM IST

The order was passed on December 16 by a bench of Justice Rajesh Rai.

The Karnataka High Court has imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on one of the petitioners in a property dispute, describing the matter as having “wasted the precious time of the court” in a case involving one party allegedly projecting themselves as the foster child of a deceased person and creating fake documents.

The order was passed on December 16 by a bench of Justice Rajesh Rai.

In this case, two brothers, Muninanjappa and Nanjundappa, were the legal heirs to a plot of land measuring a little over three acres, classified as “thoti inam” (grant land) located in Bengaluru North’s Hosahalli village. They had applied for the re-grant of the lands, and obtained it in 1973 despite a rival claimant, Munivenkatamma, contesting it. The brothers also executed a will in favour of an adopted heir, Narayanappa.

In 2006, the heirs of Narayanappa (who was now deceased) entrusted work to Munivenkatamma’s son regarding documents related to a land sale, as he was a helper to the village accountant. He allegedly created a fake partition deed in favour of his mother, and had her name included in the revenue records.

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While the assistant commissioner, Bengaluru North, overturned these revenue entries, Munivenkatamma successfully challenged them before the deputy commissioner. The heirs of Narayanappa then approached the Karnataka High Court as petitioners in the current matter in 2012.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that the partition deed was a forgery and had been executed with forged signatures. The counsel argued that in a criminal case related to this matter, Munivenkatamma and others had been chargesheeted in 2013 by the Bagalur police under sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those on cheating and forgery.

On the other hand, Munivenkatamma’s counsel argued that she was the foster daughter of one of the brothers, Muninajappa. It was also argued that in 2006, the heirs of Narayanappa had executed the partition deed with her, and she had owned the land since then.

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The bench did not accept this argument, stating that Munivenkatamma “failed to produce any iota of evidence or documents to substantiate that she is the foster daughter of Muninanjappa”.

“On the other hand, the petitioners produced the registered Will executed in favour of Narayanappa… I hold that respondent No 4 (Munivenkatamma), being a stranger to the petitioners and no way connected to the subject lands, by concocting the documents, dragged the petitioners before the Authorities and this Court for unlawful gain,” said Justice Rai.

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“Respondent No 4 dragged the dispute for more than a decade for one or the other reason. This conduct of respondent No 4 has to be deprecated as she not only dragged the petitioners before this court, but also wasted the precious time of the court… The said conduct of respondent No. 4 has to be dealt with iron hands by imposing costs,” Justice Rai added.

After making these observations, the court directed a fine of Rs 1 lakh to be paid to the Karnataka Legal Services Authority within a month.