Jt.Collector Ranga Reddy Dist.& ... vs D.Narsing Rao & Ors. Etc.Etc

Broadly speaking, the facts leading to filing of these appeals are as follows: There is no dispute that Gopanpally village in Ranga Reddy district was a Jagir village. According to the writ petitioners Survey Nos.36 and 37 measuring Ac 280.00 guntas and Ac.378.14 guntas of the said village were Jagir lands and Jagirdar had given Pattas to different persons who were in possession of the lands and after abolition of Jagirs the same were reflected as Pattas in Khasra Pahani for the year 1954-55 which was prepared under Section 4(2) of the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Record of Rights in land Regulation, 1358F and subsequently the Pattadars had alienated the lands to the petitioners under registered sale deeds and they are in possession of the same. It is their further case that Patta was granted to an extent of Acre 44-00 in Survey No.36 and to an extent of acre 46-00 in Survey No.37 and while the matter stood thus, the petitioners on inquiry came to know that the Government has reserved and allotted a total extent of 477 acres in Survey Nos.36 and 37 of Gopanpally village for house sites to the Government employees by Government Orders dated 10.7.1991 and 24.9.1991, without mentioning the sub-division Nos. of the survey numbers and the Patta lands of the petitioners are also sought to be included within the area reserved and the petitioners challenged the same by filing writ petition No.21719 of 1997 on the file of the High Court. The writ petitioners have further stated that the Respondent No.1 at the instance of Respondent No.2 had issued notice dated 19.12.2003 to the writ petitioners and others stating that on verification of records i.e. namely Faisal Patti for the year 1953-54 in respect of the land bearing Survey Nos.36 and 37 of Gopanpally village there is no "Ain Izafa" (i.e.) (implementation of changes) taken place in respect of the said land and the entries in the Khasra Pahani appears to be incorporated by the then Patwari without order from the competent authority and an enquiry under Section 9 of the Andhra Pradesh Rights in Land to Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971, is scheduled for hearing on 27.12.2003 and the writ petitioners challenged the said notice by filing Writ Petition No.26987 of 2003 and the learned Single Judge of the High Court allowed the said Writ Petition by order dated 30.8.2004 and set aside the impugned show cause notice. It is further stated by the writ petitioners that the first respondent on the very same basis issued subsequent notice dated 31.12.2004 for enquiry under Section 166B of Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Land Revenue Act, 1317F fixing the date of hearing on 5.2.2005 and the petitioners challenged the same in their writ petition No.1731 of 2005 and the learned single Judge of the High Court heard both the writ petitions i.e. 21719 of 1997 and 1731 of 2005 together.

The said writ petitions were resisted by the Government by stating that the Jagirs were abolished on 15.8.1948 by the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) (Abolition of Jagirs) Regulation, 1358 fasli and the pre-existing rights in all the Jagirs were taken away and as per the Khasra Pahani for the year 1954-55 the sub-divisions were made under Survey Nos.36 and 37 of the village Gopanpally fraudulently by the Patwari and those sub-divisions and names were not approved by Nizam Jamabandi in Faisal Patti during the year 1954-55 as per the procedure in vogue and the schedule land bearing survey Nos. 36 and 37 from the time of Jagir abolition on 15.8.1948 is classified as Chinna Kancha (grazing land) and it belongs to the Government and the said unauthorized entries in Khasara Pahani made by the then Patwari were detected by the Revenue Authorities and hence enquiry has been ordered under Section 166B of Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Land Revenue Act, 1317F and only a show cause notice has been issued.

No time limit is prescribed in the above Regulation for the exercise of suo motu power but the question is as to whether the suo motu power could be exercised after a period of 50 years. The Government as early as in the year 1991 passed order reserving 477 acres of land in Survey Nos. 36 and 37 of Gopanpally village for house-sites to the government employees. In other words the Government had every occasion to verify the revenue entries pertaining to the said lands while passing the Government Order dated 24.9.1991 but no exception was taken to the entries found. Further the respondents herein filed Writ Petition No.21719 of 1997 challenging the Government order dated 24.9.1991 and even at that point of time no action was initiated pertaining to the entries in the said survey numbers. Thereafter, the purchasers of land from respondent Nos.1 and 2 herein filed a civil suit in O.S.No.12 of 2001 on the file of Additional District Judge, Ranga Reddy District praying for a declaration that they were lawful owners and possessors of certain plots of land in survey No.36, and after contest, the suit was decreed and said decree is allowed to become final. By the impugned Notice dated 31.12.2004 the suo motu revision power under Regulation 166B referred above is sought to be exercised after five decades and if it is allowed to do so it would lead to anomalous position leading to uncertainty and complications seriously affecting the rights of the parties over immovable properties.

2. The facts giving rise to the filing of the writ petitions and the writ appeals before the High Court out of which arise the present appeals have been set out at length by my esteemed Brother in the order proposed by him. Narration of the factual matrix over again would, therefore, serve no useful purpose. Suffice it to say that the dispute in these proceedings is confined to an extent of 44 acres of land situate in Survey No.36 and 46 acres of land in Survey No.37 of Gopanpally village of Ranga Reddy district in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The case of the respondents (writ petitioners before the High Court) was that the said extent of land was granted by the Jagirdar concerned on Patta to persons in actual cultivating possession. The Patta was, according to the respondents, recongnised by the Government, with the result that the names of the holders were shown in the Khasra Phanis since the year 1954-55.

Thus, we find no merit in these appeals. Consequently they are dismissed with no order as to costs.

1. I have had the privilege of reading the order proposed by my esteemed Brother C. Nagappan, J. Though I entirely agree with the conclusion drawn by His Lordship that revisional powers vested in the Joint Collector under Section 166B of A.P. (Telangana Area) Land Revenue Act cannot be exercised 50 years after the making of the alleged fraudulent entries and that the High Court was justified in quashing notice dated 31st December, 2004 issued to the respondents, I would like to add a few lines of my own.

13. Having said that we must make it clear that we have not gone into the correctness of the alleged fraudulent entry nor have we expressed any opinion whether, the quashing of the notice dated 21st December, 2004 would prevent the State from taking such other steps as may be permissible under any provision of law. The High Court has, as a matter of fact, made it clear that the State Government shall be free to take any other steps or proceedings in accordance with law qua the land in question. That liberty should suffice for we have examined the matter only from the narrow angle whether the Khasra Phani entry of 1954-55 could be corrected at this belated stage in exercise of the revisional powers vested in the competent authority under Section 166-B of the A.P. (Telangana Area) Land Revenue Act. That question having been answered in the negative these appeals must fail and are hereby dismissed leaving the parties to bear their own costs.