Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, J. - Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel representing the State-respondents.

2. Under challenge in this petition is an order dated 24.09.2018 passed by the Collector, Ambedkar Nagar, whereby the permission sought by the petitioner under Section 98 of U.P. Revenue Code, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as Code, 2006) for transfer of land as he belongs to scheduled caste, has been rejected. The Collector, while rejecting the said application, has given the reason that since Section 98 of Code, 2006 does not envisage marriage of daughter of tenure holder belonging to scheduled caste as a ground for permitting him to transfer his land, the permission which was sought by the petitioner, could not be granted.

3. Section 98 of Code, 2006 contains a prohibitory clause which in an unambiguous term puts a restriction on any bhumidhar belonging to scheduled caste to transfer his land to a person not belonging to scheduled caste. However, the said prohibition is subject to the previous permission of the Collector permitting such a bhumidhar belonging to scheduled caste to transfer his land.

4. Section 98 of Code, 2006 is extracted herein below:-

98. Restrictions on transfer by Bhumidhars belonging to a Scheduled Caste.- (1) Without prejudice to the provisions of this Chapter, no bhumidhar belonging to a scheduled caste shall have the right to transfer, by way of sale, gift, mortgage or lease any land to a person not belonging to a scheduled caste, except with the previous permission of the Collector in writing:

Provided that the permission by the Collector may be granted only when-

a) the bhumidhar belonging to a scheduled caste has no surviving heir specified in clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 108 or clause (a) of section 110, as the case may be; or

(b) the bhumidhar belonging to a scheduled caste has settled or is ordinarily residing in the district other than that in which the land proposed to be transferred is situate or in any other State for the purpose of any service or any trade, occupation, profession or business; or

(c) the Collector is, for the reasons prescribed, satisfied that it is necessary to grant the permission for transfer of land.

(2) For the purposes of granting permission under this section the Collector may make such inquiry as may be prescribed."

5. A perusal of the aforequoted provisions of Section 98 of Code, 2006 reveal that the Collector may grant permission only in three cases; (i) if the bhumidhar belonging to scheduled caste does not have any surviving heir to inherit the property, (ii) when such a bhhumidhar is settled or is ordinarily residing in a district other than the district in which the land proposed to be transferred is situated or in any other State for the purpose of any service or any trade, occupation, business or (iii) the Collector, apart from the aforesaid situations, can also grant permission for transfer of land, if he is satisfied that it is necessary to grant the permission, however, in such a situation the Collector needs to record reasons.

6. Sub-section (2) of Section 98 of Code, 2006 requires the Collector to make inquiry before considering any such application seeking permission to transfer the land, as may be prescribed.

7. Rule 99 of U.P. Revenue Code Rules, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as Rule, 2016) which are statutory in nature provides that application seeking permission to transfer the land under Section 98 (1) of Code, 2006 is to be moved to the Collector in RC Form-27.

8. Sub-rule (4) of Rule 99 of Rules, 2016 provides that in case any such application under Section 98 (1) of Code, 2006 is moved, the Collector shall make such inquiry as may be deemed necessary and for the said purpose, he may depute an officer not below the rank of Naib Tehsildar for verification of the contents of the application and also for reporting the circumstances in which the transfer is sought.

9. Rule 99 of U.P. Revenue Code Rules, 2016 is extracted herein below:-

99. Collectors permission for transfer of Scheduled Caste Bhumidhars land (Section 98)- (1) An application under section 98 (1) or under section 98 (1) read with section 107, for permission to transfer land by way of sale or gift or for permission to bequeath land by Will, as the case may be, shall be made by a Bhumidhar with transferable rights belonging to Scheduled Caste to the Collector in R.C. Form-27.

(2) An application under section 98 (1), for permission to mortgage his interest in the land shall be made by a bhumidhar, belonging to a Scheduled Caste to the Collector in R.C. Form-28.

(3) An application under section 98 (1), for permission to let out land shall be made by a bhumidhar belonging to a Scheduled Caste to the Collector in R.C. Form-29.

(4) On receipt of an application under Section 98 (1) the Collector shall make such inquiry as he may, in the circumstances of the case, deem necessary. He may also depute an officer not below the rank of Naib Tahsildar for:

(a) verification of the facts stated in the application; and

(b) reporting the circumstances in which permission for transfer is sought.

(5) The inquiry officer referred to in sub-rule (4) of this rule shall submit the report in duplicate within the period of fifteen days, from the date of receiving the order of such inquiry.

(6) A copy of the report shall be supplied to the applicant free of charge, from the office of the Collector where such report has been submitted.

(7) The applicant may file objection against the report submitted by the inquiry officer within the period of seven days from the date of receipt of the copy of the report.

(8) After receiving the report submitted under sub-rule (3) and the objection, if any, if the Collector is satisfied that-

(a) the conditions of clause (a) or clause (b) of subsection (1) of section 98 are fulfilled; or

(b) the tenure holder or any member of his family is suffering from any fatal disease regarding which the certificate has been issued by any physician or surgeon specialist in the disease concerned and the permission for transfer is necessary to meet out the expenses for the treatment of such disease; or

(c) the applicant is seeking permission under section 98 (1) of the Code for the proposed transfer to purchase any other land from the consideration of such proposed transfer and the facts in this regard in the application are supported with certified copy of a registered agreement to sell in favour of the applicant; or

(d) the area of land held by the applicant on the date of application does not, after such transfer, reduce to less than 1.26 hectares, and

(e) if the permission is being sought for transfer by sale the consideration for the transfer of the land is not below the amount calculated as per the circle rate fixed by the Collector; he may grant the permission by recording the reasons.

Explanation:- For the removal of doubt it is a hereby clarified that if the condition enumerated in Clause (d) of this sub-rule is not fulfilled but any condition enumerated in Clauses (a) to (c) of this rule is fulfilled the permission under Section 98 (1) of the Code may be granted by Collector.

(9) An application referred to in sub-rule (2) or sub-rule (3) of Rule 99 for permission to mortgage or to let out land, as the case may be, may be granted by the Collector on his being satisfied that the mortgage or letting out, as the case may be, is not possible in favour of a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.

(10) An application referred to in sub-rule (1) of Rule 99 for permission to bequeath land by Will, may be granted by the Collector on his being satisfied that the bequeath of the land was not possible in favour of the person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe.

(11) The Collector shall make an endeavour to dispose of the application under section 98(1) within the period of fifteen days from the date of receiving the report submitted by the inquiry officer and if the application is not disposed of within such period the reason for the same shall be recorded.

10. Sub-rule (6) of Rule 99 of Rules, 2016 prescribes that the report of inquiry to be conducted under sub-rule (4) and (5) shall be supplied to the applicant free of charge. Sub-rule (7) provides an opportunity to the applicant for filing objection against the report submitted by the Inquiry Officer. Thus, as per the scheme of Rule 99, the applicant is to be given an opportunity to file objection, if any, on the report of the Inquiry Officer and it is only thereafter that the Collector shall consider the prayer for grant of permission considering the objections, if any, moved by the applicant and he will, thus, record his satisfaction. The satisfaction to be recorded by the Collector for permitting the transfer of land by a bhumidhar belonging to scheduled caste has to be in respect of the conditions of Clause-(a) or clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Section 98 or he can also record his satisfaction for grant of permission in case the applicant or any member of his family is suffering from any fatal disease. He shall also record his satisfaction in terms of the provisions contained in Rule 99 (8) (c) (d) and (e). In terms of the provisions contained in sub-rule (11) of Rule 99, the Collector is required to make an endeavour to dispose of the application within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of the report to be submitted by the Inquiry Officer. Thus, the Collector on consideration of the application has to either accord his permission or refuse it, however, refusal or acceptance of the prayer for permission has to be within the four corners of the provisions contained in Section 98 of Code, 2006 read with Rule 99 of Rules, 2016.

11. Apart from the other grounds on which the permission can be accorded by the Collector, he is also empowered to accord permission on his satisfaction that it is necessary to grant permission for transfer of land, as has been provided in sub-section (c) of Section 98 (1) of Code, 2006.

12. As to whether need of money for settling marriage of the daughter of a tenure holder belonging to scheduled caste can be the basis of drawing satisfaction by the Collector for according permission is a matter which needs consideration by the Collector on the basis of other relevant factors which are required to be considered as per the requirement of Section 98 of Code 2006 read with Rule 99 of Rules, 2016.

13. There may be a situation where the Collector may be satisfied for certain reasons that permission is necessary to be granted in case the tenure holder is in need of money for settling his daughters marriage. If any such satisfaction is recorded, the same, in my considered opinion, would be covered by the provision of Section 98 (1) (c) of Code, 2006. However, having said that, it is noticeable that the application to be moved, considered and decided has to be in consonance with the requirement of the provisions contained in Section 98 and Rule 99 and the application has to be moved in the prescribed format i.e. RC Form-27 and accordingly it is to be considered based on the inquiry to be conducted and objection, if any, of the applicant.

14. In the instant case, neither the petitioner moved the application in terms of the requirement of Section 98 read with Rule 99 nor the application made by him contained the requisite information as per the format of the application contained in RC Form-27, which is reproduced hereunder:-

"R.C. FORM-27

[See Rule-99(1)]

Application by a bhumidhar with transferable rights belonging to a Scheduled Caste for permission to transfer(by sale/ gift/bequeath by will) his land in favour of a person not belonging to a Scheduled Caste.

To

The Collector,

Sir,

I.................., son of Sri/late................, resident of Village...............,Tahsil.............., District....................., state as follows:

1. That I am a Bhumidhar with transferable rights and belong to a Scheduled Caste known as........................

2. The details of the total area of land held by the applicant as Bhumidhar in Uttar Pradesh are given in Schedule-I appended hereto.

3. That I desire to transfer by sale/gift/bequeath by Will my bhumidhari land specified in Schedule-II appended hereto in favour of Sri ................., son of Sri ..............., resident of Village..............., Tahsil....................., District..................who does not belong to a Scheduled Caste.

4. That the grounds on which I pray for the permission to transfer by sale/gift /bequeath by Will the land specified in Schedule-II appended hereto as follows: ....................................................................................

5. The amount of consideration is Rs........................and the amount of market value as per the circle rate fixed by the Collector is Rs..........

6. It is, therefore, prayed that the permission may be granted to me under section 98(1) or under section 98(1) read with section 107 of the U.P. Revenue Code, 2006 for transferring by sale/gift/bequeathing by Will the land specified in Schedule-II appended hereto.

Signature of the applicant.

(Verification)

Signature of the applicant

Dated

Witness :

Schedule I

(Appended to R.C. Form 27)

Details of total area of land held by Sri........................., son of Sri.............., resident of village ................., tahsil.............., district................., as bhumidhar in Uttar Pradesh.

District

Tehsil

Village

Khata

Khasra

no.

Area in hectare

Land

Revenue

payable

or

deemed to be payable

1

2

3

4

5

6

Signature of the bhumidhar

Schedule II

(Appended to R.C. Form 27)

(Details of total area of land held by Sri.........................., son of Sri .............., resident of village ................., tahsil.............., district................., as bhumidhar in Uttat Pradesh.

District

Tehsil

Village

Khata

Khasra

no.

Area in hectare

Land

Revenue

payable

or

deemed to be

payable

1

2

3

4

5

6

Signature of the bhumidhar"

15. The impugned order also does not suggest as to whether report of the inquiry conducted on the application preferred by the petitioner was ever furnished to him giving opportunity of filing objection.

16. In the aforesaid circumstances, the petition is allowed and the order dated 24.09.2018 passed by the Collector, Ambedkar Nagar, is hereby quashed.

17. It is further provided that the petitioner, if he is still desirous of transferring his land to a person not belonging to scheduled caste, will be at liberty to move application under Section 98 in RC Form-27 and also in terms of the provision contained in Rule 99 of Rules, 2016. In case any such application is moved by the petitioner, the same shall be decided strictly in accordance with the provisions contained in Section 98 read with Rule 99 of Rules, 2016 expeditiously, say within a period of three months from the date any application by the petitioner is preferred.