IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO:27201 of 2003 Between: Kesari Nageswara Reddy, S/o Sobhanadri Reddy, R/o Vallabhapuram Village, Kollipara Mandal, Guntur District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Secretary,Revenue (ASN.I) Department, Secretariat, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. 2 The Joint Collector, Guntur, Guntur District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Kollipara Mandal, Guntur District. 4 Tenants Co-operative Society, Rep. by its President, Vallabhapuram Joshi. Vallabhapuram Village, Kollipara Mandal, Guntur District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.S.V.MUNI REDDY Counsel for Respondent Nos.1 to 3:AGP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed for a writ of mandamus to set aside order, dated 14.11.2003 passed by respondent No.1. This case has a chequered history. On 13.10.1973, the petitioner was granted temporary permission to cultivate the lands admeasuring Ac.1.04 cents in Survey No.458 and Ac.0.92 cents in Survey No.459/1 of Vallabhapuram Village, Kollipara Mandal, Guntur District. Aggrieved by the said permission, respondent No.4 filed a petition before the Revenue Divisional Officer, Tenali, who, in turn, set aside the said permission granted by the Tahsildar, Tenali in favour of the petitioner. The District Revenue Officer, before whom the appeal was filed by the petitioner, remanded the case to the Revenue Divisional Officer, Tenali for a detailed enquiry. After remand, the Revenue Divisional Officer (Assistant Collector) allowed the same. The District Revenue Officer confirmed the order passed by the Revenue Divisional Officer in the revision filed by the petitioner. Having been unsuccessful before the Chief Commissioner of Land Revenue, Andhra Pradesh, the petitioner carried the matter in revision before respondent No.1, which, in turn, dismissed the same on 01.01.1979. A review petition filed by the petitioner before respondent No.1 proved fruitful to him with the direction given by respondent No.1 vide G.O.Rt.No.1395, Revenue B. Department, dated 20.08.1982 to grant D-Form patta on the ground that he was a landless poor person. Following the said order, the petitioner was granted DKT patta bearing No.24/1392 by the then Tahsildar on 25.10.1982. Respondent No.4 continued to litigate against the petitioner by approaching respondent No.1 to cancel the assignment granted in favour of the petitioner, on the ground that he was possessing Acs.2.80 cents of land at the time of initial grant i.e. in 1973. Respondent No.1 considered the said representation and referred the matter to the District Collector for disposal on merits. Respondent No.2 vide his proceedings, dated 01.10.1985 cancelled the assignment granted in favour of the petitioner on the ground that he was possessing Acs.2.83 cents of land from 14.02.1967 to 22.05.1983 excluding the land, for which, the permission was granted. The said proceedings were upheld by respondent No.1 in the revision filed by the petitioner, vide it’s order, dated 07.10.1985. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner filed Writ Petition No.7254 of 1986, which was allowed by this Court by order, dated 15.09.1986 and directed respondent No.1 to dispose of the revision petition afresh. After remand, respondent No.1 reiterated it’s earlier order, vide it’s G.O.Ms.No.13, dated 06.01.1992. The petitioner questioned the said order by filing Writ Petition No.220 of 1992 in this Court, which, in turn, allowed the said writ petition by setting aside the order of respondent No.1 with the observation that the material particulars considered by respondent No.1 did not establish that the petitioner was possessing the land more than the requisite limit, disentitling him to be treated as a landless poor person. After remand, the revision petition was heard and decided afresh on 14.11.2003 wherein respondent No.1 held that as on 13.10.1973, when temporary permission was granted to the petitioner, he was having Ac.0.45 cents of dry land in Survey No.318/3 of Vallabhapuram Village and Acs.2.80 cents of wet land in Survey No.213 of Chinapalem Village, Duggirala Mandal. The petitioner filed this writ petition questioning the said order. At the hearing, there is no representation for respondent No.4. The record shows that respondent No.4 refused to receive the notice. Sri S.V.Muni Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioner strenuously contended that the whole approach of respondent No.1 in treating 13.10.1973 as the relevant date to decide the eligibility of the petitioner as a landless poor person is fundamentally erroneous and unsustainable. Having carefully considered this submission, I find merit in it. Though the petitioner was granted permission initially to cultivate the land on 13.10.1973, after several rounds of litigation, respondent No.1 gave a direction to the then Tahsildar to treat the petitioner as a landless poor person only by it’s order passed on 20.08.1982. In pursuance of this order, the petitioner was granted assignment on 25.10.1982. Therefore, the learned counsel for the petitioner is right in contending that the relevant date for deciding the status of the petitioner was the date on which his case was considered for grant of assignment. Though the petitioner had Acs.2.80 cents of wet land in Survey No.213 of Chinapalem Village of Duggirala Mandal, a part of the said land, namely, Ac.1.47 cents was gifted to his daughter. If 25.10.1982 is taken as the relevant date to judge the petitioner’s eligibility, he answers the description of “landless poor person”. I do not find any rationale in respondent No.1 taking 13.10.1973 i.e. the date on which the petitioner was granted permission to cultivate the land, as the relevant date to judge the eligibility of the petitioner. In this view of the matter, the impugned order passed by respondent No.1 is quashed. The writ petition is accordingly, allowed. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 5th NOVEMBER, 2008. kvni