IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF AUGUST, TWO THOUSAND EIGHT ONLY PRESENT: THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.22113 of 2000 Between: Sathivada Malleswara Rao and five others. … Petitioners And The Tahsildar, Ponduru and four others. … Respondents Counsel for the petitioners: Sri M.V.Suresh Counsel for respondents: AGP for Revenue. This Court made the following: ORDER: This Writ Petition is ﬁled for a Writ of Certiorari to call for the records and quash orders dated 27-3-1985, 1-2-1997 and 2- 9-2000 passed by respondents 2,4 and 5 respectively. The petitioners also sought for a consequential direction to the respondents to grant a ryotwari pattas in their favour under Section 11-a of the Estates Abolition Act, 1947 in respect of Ac.1.76 cents in R.S.No.94, covered by O.S.No.223/7,8,9,10,11,12,13 and 14 of Pathuru village, Etcherla of Perla Annapurnamma Estate of Shermohammdpuram. Heard Sri M.V.Suresh, learned counsel for the petitioners, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue, and perused the record. Under a purported Nazarana dated 23-8- 1940, the petitioners claimed their title to the above-mentioned property. They also ﬁled Ex.P.2 cist receipts before respondent No.2-the Settlement Oﬃcer, Visakhapatnam. Having considered the said documents ﬁled by the petitioners in support of their claim that as on the relevant date, viz., 1-7-1945, they were in possession and enjoyment of the above- mentioned property, respondent No.2 rejected the petitioners’ claim on two grounds, namely, that the purported document of title was a receipt for Nazarana dated 23-8-1940 and no patta granted by the erstwhile land holder was ﬁled before him; and that R.S.No.94 consists of seven Sub-divisions, out of which some of them were noted in the M.D.R. as poramboke lands and in respect of some sub-divisions ryotwari pattas were granted in favour Jarugulla Daleppadu, Rajappadu, Suravarapu Gannaiah etc., and it is not clear from the claim of the petitioners as to which sub-division of R.S.No.94 the claim relates to. He also observed that the petitioners failed to explain as to on the strength of which documentary evidence they were inducted into possession. He further held that the petitioners failed to prove that they are in continuous possession of land from 1-7-1945 upto 12-1-1951, the date on which the Estate was taken over by the Government; and that out of the land revenue receipts ﬁled by the petitioners, two of them are in manuscript and unless they are proved, they cannot be admitted in evidence. While dealing with receipts dated 29-3-1948 and 30-6-1943, he held that they do not contain the Original Survey Numbers and, hence, it is not possible to know whether they relate to the scheduled land or not. The said order was conﬁrmed by respondents 4 and 5 in the appeal and revision respectively. Though at the hearing the learned counsel for the petitioners made strenuous eﬀorts to set aside the above mentioned orders, having carefully considered the record, I have not felt persuaded to do so. Respondent No.2 considered the documentary evidence ﬁled before him and gave his ﬁndings, which are in the nature of ﬁndings of fact. This Court, while exercising its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India will only examine the decision making process and not the merits of the decision, because it does not exercise appellate jurisdiction in examining the correctness or otherwise of the orders passed by the statutory authorities. Learned counsel for the petitioners disputed the correctness of the ﬁndings of respondent No.2 and as conﬁrmed by respondents 4 and 5. As they fall within the realm of the ﬁnding of facts, it is not possible for this Court to embark upon an enquiry into the correctness of the said ﬁndings. As I do not ﬁnd that the orders passed by the hierarchal authorities suﬀer from error of law or of jurisdiction, the Writ Petition is dismissed. ----------------------- ----------------- C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Date:05-08-2008 MNR