STATE OF A P Vs. T YADAGIRI REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A Judgment by the High Court allowing a Civil Revision Petition, setting aside the order passed by the Land Reforms Appellate Tribunal- cum-II Additional District Judge of Ranga Reddy District (hereinafter called Rs. the Appellate Tribunal for short) is in challenge before us. The High Court while allowing the Revision, recognized the rights of the respondents herein as the protected tenants and further held that they become absolute owners of the land by purchasing the land in respect of which they were protected tenants. As a sequel, the High Court held that the land held by them could not be declared as a surplus land and could not be distributed as such. Before we approach the disputed questions, a factual background would be necessary.

(2.) Five respondents, namely, (1) Shri T. Yadagiri Reddy, (2) Shri T. Bal Reddy, (3) Shri T. Janardhan Reddy, (4) Shri T. Mohan Reddy, (5) Shri T. Satyanarayana Reddy are the sons of Late Shri T. Papi Reddy. According to them, the said Late Shri T. Papi Reddy was a protected tenant from (1) Late Shri Khaja Shakhir Hussain, (2) Shri Khaja Nasir Hussain, (3) Smt. Razia Sultana W/o Mir Sadath Ali. It is the case of the respondents, as seen from their Counter affidavit that at the commencement of A.P. (Telangana Area) Tenancy & Agricultural Lands Act, 1950 (hereinafter called "the Tenancy Act" for short) and more precisely, on 10.6.1950, their father Late Shri T. Papi Reddy was deemed to be the protected tenant of the land, admeasuring 123 Acres 17 guntas, bearing Survey Nos. 18 to 24 (old), i.e., new Survey Nos. 24 to 30 and 39 of Meerpet Revenue Village, Saroornagar Mandal, Rangareddy District, Andhra Pradesh. This land belonged to Late Shri Khaja Shakhir Hussain and Ors., who were the Jagirdars of that Village. Their father Late Shri Papi Reddy entered into an agreement on 25.2.1956 with Late Shri Khaja Shakhir Hussain and Ors. for transfer of land holders interest in the said land to the tenants Late Shri T. Papi Reddy himself and the present respondents. The respondents asserted that this was under the provisions of Section 38-A & B of the Tenancy Act. They further pleaded that there was oral partition between Late Shri T. Papi Reddy and his sons, i.e., respondents, in which lands stood divided and that included also the concerned land to the extent of 123 acres 17 guntas, comprising of Survey Nos. 24 to 30 and 39. According to the respondents, the whole land was divided into six equal shares. They then pointed out that on 1.1.1975, A.P. Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973 (hereinafter called "the Ceiling Act" for short) came on the anvil. Under the provisions of that Act, Late Shri T. Papi Reddy, as also the present respondents filed six separate declarations regarding the land owned and possessed by them and these declarations included the aforementioned Survey numbers also, which were obtained by them in their capacity as the protected tenants. It is the further case of the respondents that a Verification Report in respect of the declarations made by the respondents and Late Shri T. Papi Reddy were verified by the Verification Officer and the same Report was submitted to the Land Reforms Tribunal I-cum-Additional Revenue Divisional Officer (hereinafter called Rs. the Tribunal) of Ranga Reddy District, appointed under the Ceiling Act. This was on 31.7.1975 and 8.8.1975. In between 14.8.1975 and 22.10.1975, six orders came to be passed by the Tribunal. The dates and the other details of these Revenue cases, dealt with by the Land Reforms Tribunal, were as under:

(3.) So far so good. The respondents claimed that they continued to be in possession of the lands, since none of them had held more land than the ceiling area prescribed by the Ceiling Act. The orders passed in their case, shown in the Table above were also not appealed against by the State Government and had become final. While the matters in case of the respondents stood thus, a further development took place as follows.