HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA WRIT PETITION No. 25769 OF 2009. DATED 14th March, 2011 BETWEEN G.Raja Reddy …Petitioner and The Andhra Pradesh State, Rep. by its District collector, Kadapa District, Kadapa and ors ….Respondents. HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA WRIT PETITION No. 25769 OF 2009. ORDER: The petitioner assails the action of the respondent authorities in classifying the land in an extent of Ac.2.23 cents in Survey No.629 of Bollavaram Village, Chowtupalli Panchayat, Proddatur Mandal, Kadapa District, as quarries DKT land/ Government land basing on the communication dated 09.09.2008 of the District Collector, Kadapa, the first respondent, addressed to the Sub-Registrar, Proddatur, Kadapa District, the fourth respondent. He therefore seeks a direction to reclassify the said land as private patta land and a consequential direction to receive and register the documents in respect of the subject land as and when presented by him and release the same in accordance with law. At the time of admission of the writ petition this Court, by order dated 27.11.2009, granted interim direction to the fourth respondent to receive and register the document pertaining to the subject land and release the same in favour of the petitioner in accordance with law. However, this Court made it clear that such registration should be subject to further orders that may be passed in the main writ petition. It is the case of the petitioner that he purchased the subject land in the year 2005 from the predecessors-in-title who possessed pattadar pass books in respect thereof wherein the subject land was shown as patta dry land. He traces title to the subject land to a registered transaction dating back to the year 1957. It is his further case that the entire land in the said survey number, according to the revenue records, stands in the name of the predecessors-in-title since the year 1900. The complaint of the petitioner is that when he approached the fourth respondent seeking to alienate a part of the subject land, he was informed that the subject land is treated as quarries DKT land/Government land as per the communication dated 09.09.2008 of the third respondent and therefore no document, if presented, in respect of the subject land would be entertained for registration. Hence, the present writ petition. The Tahsildar, Proddatur Village & Mandal, Kadapa District, the third respondent, filed a counter on behalf of himself and the first respondent and the Revenue Divisional Officer, Jammalamadugu, Kadapa District, the second respondent. Therein, he stated that as per R.S.R. the subject land is classified as quarries poramboke (Government land) and thereafter the same was transferred into Ayan (Assessed Waste) vide proceedings Dis.No.1246/DR/1925 dated 15.12.1925 of the first respondent for eventual assignment. Thereupon, the said land was assigned to one K.Peeraiah on 06.12.1937. Therefore the subject land is assigned land and not a patta land. He further stated that his predecessor prepared the list of Government lands and DKT lands after thorough verification of R.S.R. and Revenue Records maintained in the third respondent’s office and the same was furnished to the fourth respondent under communication dated 09.09.2008. He ultimately stated that the subject land is not a private patta land. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for the respondent authorities. Prohibition of registration of documents is traceable to Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908 (for short, ‘the Act of 1908’). With regard to Government land, the prohibition is relatable to clause (e) of Section 22-A thereof. Therefore, to press into service the prohibition clause, there must be a notification issued by the State Government mentioning the lands in which it has interest. Admittedly, no such notification as contemplated under Section 22-A(2) of the Act of 1908 is issued in respect of the subject. The first and third respondents wholly place reliance on the mere entries in the revenue records and classify the subject land as quarries DKT land/Government land. Basing on the same, the first respondent sent a communication to the fourth respondent enclosing therewith a list of assigned and government lands pertaining to Proddatur and Bollavaram Villages of Chowtupalli Panchayat of Proddatur Mandal. De hors the mere entries in the revenue records, there is no other basis for the revenue authorities to stake a claim over the subject land as its own land. To the contrary, the evidence on record, being registered transactions of the year 1957, manifestly undo the tall claim of the revenue authorities that the subject land is quarries DKT land/Government land. The issuance of pattadar pass books to the predecessors-in-title clearly indicates that the subject land was agricultural land having been cultivated by them for the past several years and the authorities without verifying the nature of the subject land simply classified the same as quarries poramboke (Government land) and that the material placed on record does not even disclose that there are quarries in and around the subject land. That being so, it is not open to the fourth respondent to treat any particular land as Government land basing on the mere communication to that effect by the revenue authorities which is based on the mere entries in the revenue records. In the absence of a notification issued under Section 22-A(2) of the Act of 1908, the action of respondent authorities in classifying the subject land as quarries DKT land/Government land and refusing to receive and register the documents in respect of the subject land is unsustainable in law. In view of the settled law the communication received from the Collector not to register the subject land as the same is Government land without there being any record or notification under Section 22-A(2) of the Act of 1908 has no bearing on the issue. Consequently, there shall be a direction to the respondent authorities to receive, register and release the documents as and when presented by the petitioner in respect of the subject land in accordance with the Registration Act, 1908 and Stamp Act, 1899. The Writ Petition is disposed of with the above direction. There shall be no order as to costs. --------------------------------------------- JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA Dated 14th March, 2011. Lvl/Msnro