THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No : 21325 of 2007 ORDER: Appalaswamy, father of the petitioners herein, was assigned an extent of Ac.4.43 cents of land in Survey Nos.56/2 and Ac.0.57 cents of land in Survey No.57/2 of Potinamallaiah Palem Village, Maduravada, Visakhapatnam District, in his capacity as ex-serviceman, way back in the year 1965. Appala Swamy died on 23.04.1983. Thereafter, the land was partitioned among his children in pursuance of a decree passed in O.S.No.81 of 1996 in the Court of II Additional District Judge, Visakhapatnam. The petitioners herein are said to have been allotted one-fourth share each in the said land. The petitioners entered into a development agreement in respect of their share of land and presented the same for registration before the 4th respondent. Through his endorsement, dated 22.09.2007, the 4th respondent refused to register the document on the ground that the land is classified as ‘gayyalu’ (government land) and registration of any document in relation thereto is prohibited under Section 22-A of the Registration Act (for short ‘the Act’). The said endorsement is challenged in this writ petition. In the counter affidavit filed by the Sub-Registrar, it is not disputed that the land was assigned to the father of the petitioners in his capacity as ex-servicemen. Reference is made to Section 22-A of the Act. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned counsel for the respondents. It is true that the Legislature amended the Act by introducing Section 22-A of the Act, prohibiting registration of documents in respect of different categories of lands. One such category is the land held by the Government. It is a matter of record that the father of the petitioners was assigned Ac.5.00 of Government land in recognition of his services in the armed forces. Though there exist clauses prohibiting alienation of assigned lands, the Government itself issued G.O.Ms.No.1117 dated 11.11.1993 permitting alienation of land assigned in favour of ex-servicemen. The only condition is that the alienation can take place only after expiry of ten years from the date of assignment. The classification of land virtually becomes insignificant, once it is not disputed that the land was assigned to an ex-serviceman and ten years had elapsed from the date of assignment. Therefore, the view taken by the 4th respondent in his endorsement cannot be sustained in law. Hence, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned endorsement is set aside. The 4th respondent is directed to admit the document presented by the petitioners to registration, if it is otherwise found to be in order, within a period of four (4) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. There shall be no order as to costs. _________ 03.02.2009 Note: Issue C.C. in one week. (B/o) JSU THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No : 21325 of 2007 Date: 03.02.2009 JSU