THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No : 1813 of 2009 ORDER: One of the members of the 4t h respondent-bank mortgaged the land admeasuring Ac.1.62 cents in Survey No.464/1, Ac.1.61 cents in Survey No.464/2 and Ac.1.46 cents in Survey No.464/3 of Sakarajupalli Village as security for repayment of loan. The loanee committed default. Therefore, the bank brought the mortgaged property to sale. The petitioners emerged as the highest bidders and the bank executed sale deeds in their favour, on deposit of consideration. On the strength of the sale made in their favour by the Bank, the petitioners filed applications before the Tahsildar, 3rd respondent herein with a request to issue pattadar pass books in their names for the land. The 3rd respondent, however, refused to accede to their request, on the ground that the land was assigned to landless poor and transfer thereof is prohibited under Section 3 of the A.P. Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977 (for short ‘the Act’). The action of the 3rd respondent is challenged in this writ petition. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader for Revenue. It is not in dispute that the land that was sold in favour of the petitioners by the bank was assigned to one of the loanees and the loanee, in turn, had mortgaged it in favour of the bank. On account of non-payment of the borrowed amount, the bank has put the land to sale and the petitioners emerged as the highest bidders. The question as to whether the prohibition contained under Section 3 of the Act operates vis-à-vis the lands, that are sold by a bank for recovery of loan on the strength of mortgage, was dealt with by this Court in W.P.No.14743 and 14750 of 2007. Through a common judgment dated 06.07.2007, it was held that the prohibition contained under the Act does not apply to the mortgages or other similar transactions in favour of cooperative societies or scheduled banks and thereby, Section 3 of the Act becomes inoperative vis-à-vis such transactions. A Writ Appeal filed against the said judgment is said to have been dismissed. Therefore, following the judgment of this Court in W.P.Nos.14743 and 14750 of 2007, dated 26.07.2007, this writ petition is allowed and the 3rd respondent is directed to consider the applications of the petitioners for issuance of pattadar pass books and title deeds and take necessary action, without taking any plea with reference to the provisions of the Act. There shall be no order as to costs. _________ 04.02.2009 JSU THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No : 1813 of 2009 Date: 04.02.2009 JSU