IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTIETH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.13623 of 2002 Between: B.Jayamma and others ..... PETITIONERS AND Government of A.P. and others .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.K.R.PRABHAKAR Counsel for Respondent Nos.1 to 4:GP FOR REVENUE Counsel for Respondent No.5: MR. S.NIRANJAN REDDY The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed for a writ of mandamus to set aside letters, dated 01.06.2002 and 19.06.2002 issued by respondent Nos.3 and 2 whereby the request of the petitioners for grant of house-site pattas has been rejected. Heard Sri K.R.Prabhakar, learned counsel for the petitioners, the learned Government Pleader for Revenue for respondent Nos.1 to 4 and Sri S.Niranjan Reddy, learned counsel for respondent No.5. An extent of Acs.26.00 of land in Survey Nos.353 and 354 of Kukatpally, Balanagar Mandal, was donated by one Shahpurji Chenai to respondent No.5 - Bhoodan Yagna Board (for short ‘the Board’), which in turn, distributed pattas to 12 landless poor persons for the purpose of cultivating the lands. Out of the said 12 persons, some of them surrendered an extent of Acs.7.00 of land to respondent No.5 in 1996 as they found it not possible to carry on agricultural operations over the said land, with a request to assign the same as house-sites to the persons belonging to Scheduled Caste and other poor families, who do not have houses of their own. The State Government issued G.O.Ms.Nos.1052 and 1053, dated 11.12.1997 amending Rule 9 of the Andhra Pradesh Bhoodan and Gramdan Board Rules, 1965 (for short ‘the Rules’) enabling the Board to assign the land even for house site purpose. The Board converted the said extent of Acs.7.00 of land into 218 plots and identified 116 beneficiaries by preparing a list. It is not in dispute that the list was forwarded to the Tahsildar and correspondence was exchanged between him and the Revenue Divisional Officer regarding the list. The fact remains that after repeated verifications, the list of 116 beneficiaries was finalized and the petitioners were included in the said list of beneficiaries for distribution of house-sites. The impugned letters have been sent by respondent Nos.3 and 2. In the counter-affidavit filed by the Deputy Collector and the Tahsildar, Balanagar Mandal, Ranga Reddy District, he has reiterated the reasons contained in letter dated 01.06.2002 of respondent No.3 for rejection of the petitioners’ request for pattas. The learned counsel for the petitioners pointed out that both the reasons contained in the said letter of respondent No.3, namely, that the relinquishment of the rights over the plots by the allottees is not properly stamped and registered under the provisions of the Indian Registration Act, 1908 and that while surrendering the plots, the original allottees desired that the plots shall be allotted in favour of the persons belonging to Scheduled Caste alone, cannot be sustained in law. The learned counsel placed reliance on Section 31 of the Andhra Pradesh Bhoodan and Gramdan Act, 1965 (for short, ‘the Act’) and also the contents of the letter by which the original allottees surrendered the land in support of these contentions. The learned Government Pleader for Revenue submitted that the reasons contained in letter dated 01.06.2002 of respondent No.3, based on which respondent No.2 rejected the claim of the petitioners, are legal and valid and therefore the petitioners are not entitled to any relief in this writ petition. As regards the first contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners, Section 31 of the Act reads as under: “Exemption of stamp duty and registration fee etc:- Every declaration and any grant or allotment of land made or deemed to have been made under this Act shall be and shall be deemed always to have been exempted from the payment of fee and fee for encumbrance certificate, stamp duty, registration fee and fee for the attestation of power of attorney under sub- section (2) of Section 33 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908.” Section 32 had given the Act overriding effect qua any other law, which is inconsistent with its provisions. Therefore, the objection that the surrender of the land by the original allottees was not properly stamped and registered according to the provisions of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, cannot be sustained. With regard to the second ground, a perusal of the said letter of 12 allottees, who surrendered the land, shows that they requested the Board to assign the land in favour of the persons belonging to Scheduled Caste and other poor families, who do not have houses of their own. Therefore, the respondents have not properly understood the contents of the said letter. Even otherwise, when the Rules do not contain any prohibition for assignment of land towards house-sites to deserving persons belonging to non-scheduled caste, there can be no objection whatsoever for the respondents to grant pattas in favour of the persons not belonging to Scheduled Caste. In the counter-affidavit of the Deputy Collector, it is stated that out of 108 persons, who are identified as beneficiaries, 103 persons belong to B.C. Community, 3 persons belong to S.C. Community and 2 persons belong to O.C. Community. Thus, overwhelming majority of the beneficiaries belong to either Scheduled Caste or Backward Caste, who deserve house-sites in view of their backwardness, both social and economical. In this view of the matter, the impugned letters cannot be sustained in law. Hence, letters, dated 01.06.2002 of respondent No.3 and consequential letter, dated 19.06.2002 of respondent No.2 are quashed. The learned Government Pleader for Revenue submitted that according to his instructions, some of the beneficiaries have sold their house-sites in favour of third parties. Sri K.R.Prabhakar, learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that all the petitioners are in possession of their respective sites in anticipation of grant of pattas and none of them has sold his/her plot. In view of the contention raised by the learned Government Pleader as recorded above, respondent No.4 is directed to make physical verification as regards possession of the petitioners over the land in question and submit a report to respondent No.2, who, after examination of the same, shall give house-site pattas to the petitioners, if they are found to be in physical possession of their respective sites. This exercise shall be completed within a period of three (3) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The writ petition is accordingly, allowed. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 20th FEBRUARY, 2009. kvni