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Actually we could just say that is the way it is - like many rules in grammar. But Turkish grammar is transparent and there is a logical reason for the genitive case.
alt is a noun. It means ´bottom, place beneath´. Thus,
masa|nın alt|ı|n|da
has the litteral meaning ´in the table´s bottom side´. Turkish postpositions have developed from place expressions like this into compounds with more abstract meanings like el altında ´accessible´, bu şartlar altında ´in these premises´. Like any compounds they can also have nominative modifiers according to certain rules introduced in many lessons and posts at TC. In my experience, the compounds with genitive modifiers tend to be more concrete: the meaning of ownership or ´a part of a wholeness´ is still visible in them.
Most Turkish postpositions function the same way, like üst ´top, upper surface´ > masanın üstünde, ön ´front´ > masanın önünde, arka ´rear, back side´ > masanın arkasında.
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