THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE GODA RAGHURAM AND THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P. DURGA PRASAD WRIT APPEAL No. 1191 of 2004 Dated: 12-7-2011 Between Airwa Bharathamma …Appellant And The District Collector, Karimnagar and another …Respondents JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice Goda Raghuram) The unsuccessful writ petitioner preferred this appeal. The challenge in the writ petition is to the Memo dated 4-11-1993 of the 2nd respondent, rejecting the petitioner’s application dated 14-6-1993 for assignment of Ac.5-00 of agricultural land in Sy.No. 161 of Garrepalli village, Sultanabad Mandal, Karimnagar District. There are no disputed issues of fact either in the writ petition or in this appeal. The petitioner is the widow of an Ex-serviceman Sri Kishan Rao who, in 1991, applied to the revenue authorities for assignment of Ac.10-00 of land; in accordance with several governmental orders enabling assignment of land to Ex-servicemen for services rendered to the Nation. As there was a ban on assignment of land coming within the Command Area of Sriramsagar Project (Pochampadu Project), which was then under execution, Kishan Rao was granted eksal lease of the land in Sy.No.161, renewed from time to time and continued on this basis during his life time. On his demise, the appellant, his widow, represented on 14-6-1993 for assignment in terms of extant and operative government orders. Pursuant to her application, the appellant was granted a patta in respect of Ac.2 ½ of land in Sy.No. 161 and by the Memo of the 2nd respondent impugned in this writ petition, request for assignment of the entire extent of Ac.5- 00 was rejected on the ground that orders in G.O.Ms.No.818 dated 17- 9-1991 and the provisions of BSO 15 (22)(7)(i) of Board Standing Order, lands included in the ayacut are to be treated as wet land and the petitioner is therefore not entitled for assignment of Ac.5-00 of land and only to an extent of Ac. 2 ½, already assigned. By the judgment under appeal, the learned single Judge considered the several governmental orders under which Ex- servicemen were entitled to assignment of land. By the Memo dated 10-3-1992, Ex-servicemen were again declared entitled to assignment of land of an extent of Ac.5-00 of wet and 2 ½ acres of dry land. Sri Aga Reddy, learned counsel for the appellant, would strenuously contend that as the land in Sy.No. 161 of Garrepalli village is in fact dry land and incapable of sustaining wet crop and there is no effective and operational source of irrigation, the conduct of the respondents in treating the same as wet land for the purpose of computing the extent to be assigned, is arbitrary. It is also contended that the Board Standing Orders, per se, are not statutory and too much reliance cannot be placed on BSO 15 to deprive the petitioner, the widow of an Ex-serviceman, the just benefits under the assignment policy of the State meant for welfare of Ex-servicemen who sacrificed much for the security of the Nation. Sri Aga Reddy would also place reliance on the Memo dated 10-3- 1992 issued by the Revenue department, whereunder the representations of Ex-servicemen were considered and the earlier government memo dated 23-1-1992 was declared applicable to eksal lease granted in favour of Ex-serviceman and political sufferers as well. In para 2 of the government memo dated 10-3-1992, the contents of the representations by Ex-servicemen and political sufferers was summarized as under: “They were, however, granted lease of Government lands for cultivation on Eksal basis to the extents they were eligible as per the above said G.Os., and they were being continued as such for the last so many years.” It is however, paragraphs 3 to 5 of the Memo which extends the government decision in the earlier Memo dated 23-1-1992 to eksal leases granted to the Ex-servicemen/political sufferers as well. There is nothing in paragraphs 3 to 5 of the Memo dated 10-3-1992, which legitimizes an inference that the contentions of the representationists as to the fact that eksal lease granted to the extents they were eligible was incorporated in the decision to grant assignment for the entire extents for which the several eksal leases were granted. The entitlement of the appellant-writ petitioner for assignment must be based on the operative executive orders. Though it is contended by Sri Aga Reddy that Board Standing Orders are not statutory in character, that by itself is not dispositive of the issue. It is well established that executive power of the State extends to all matters over which the State has legislative power and that it is complementary to legislative power though it cannot transgress legislative prescriptions. In the absence of any statutory entitlement of the petitioner either for assignment of land on the ground that her late husband was an Ex-serviceman or as to the extent of land that ought to be assigned to Ex-serviceman, the entitlement of the petitioner is clearly only on the basis of executive instructions i.e., various G.Os and Memos issued by the government from time to time. Since executive instructions form the basis for the petitioner’s entitlement, then there is no discernible reason why Board Standing Orders could apply to guide the discretion of the State in the matter of classification of agricultural lands as either dry or wet. The classification by the Board Standing Orders and characterization of land as wet or dry is under BSO 15, which is the substantive administrative provision for assignment of lands. The characterization in BSO 15 (22)(7)(i) that the lands included in the ayacut of a project shall be treated as wet land only, for the purpose of assignment is an administrative decision taken by the State, on the reckoning that lands included under a ayacut have a potential irrigative source, though not necessarily a current or operative irrigative source. On the analysis above, the Memo of the 2nd respondent dated 4- 11-1993 suffers from no infirmity, warranting interference and the appeal must fail for the same reasons as recorded in the writ petition. There shall however be no order as to costs. ______________________ GODA RAGHURAM, J 12th July, 2011 ______________________ P. DURGA PRASAD, J GRR