K SEETHARAMAYYA Vs. D F O

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two writ appeals are preferred against the common judgment rendered by the learned single Judge in two writ petitions. Writ Appeal No. 75/90 is preferred against the judgment in W.P.No. 4201/85 while Writ Appeal No. 113/90 is preferred against the judgment in W.P. No. 7312 1985. The points arising in these two writ petitions so filed are the same in all respects and the writ petitioner in each of the cases is the Divisional Forest Officer, Eluru, West Godavari District. The only difference is that in W.P.No. 4201/1985 the claimants are impleaded as respondents 1 to 3 while in W.P.No. 7312/1985 the claimants are impleaded as respondents 1 to 12. The claimants i.e., respondents 1 to 3 in W.P.No. 4201/85 and the respondents 1 to 12 in W.P.No. 7312/85 have respectively preferred these two appeals W.A.Nos. 75 and 113 of 1990. These persons will be referred to as the "claimants" in the rest of this judgment.

(2.) The property in question in the two writ petitions was originally in the Vuyyuru Estate owned by the Zamindar thereof. He is stated to have granted this land on patta on 24-4-1942 to one S. Ramaiah on payment of Nazrana in a sum of Rs. 6,875/-. The Nazrana itself is said to have been paid on 4-4-1942. After commencement of the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (hereinafter called the Abolition Act 1948), the Vuyyuru Estate was taken over by the Government under a notification some time after 1948. Thereby the entire estate vested in the Government subject to the right of the persons in occupation of the land for claiming patta as provided in the Abolition Act 1948. As provided in the said Act, the said S. Ramaiah applied for patta before the Settlement Officer, Visakhapatnam in R.P.No. 133/62 By an order dated 14-7-1963, the Settlement Officer granted patta under Sec. 11 of the Abolition Act 1948 in an extent of 275 acres in old Survey No. 2/1 of Simgamgudem village, Chintalapudi Taluk, West Godavari District, in favour of the said S. Ramaiah. The Tahsildar, Chintalapudi was the respondent therein and he contested the case. The Director, Settlements while exercising suo mottu powers, however, set aside, by order dated 6-6-1964, the grant of the said patta. Thereafter, the said S. Ramaiah preferred a furtherrevision before the Board of Revenue, Hyderabad which by order dated 3-3-1965 set aside the order of the Director and restored the order of the Settlement Officer. It is stated by the appellants in the counter-affidavits filed in the writ petitions that the Divisional Forest Officer, Eluru sought the opinion of the Government Pleader, Hyderabad on 15-11-1965 regarding the feasibility of questioning the above said order of the Board of Revenue and that the Government by order dated 5-10-1966 rejected the proposal to notify the land under the A.P. Private Forest Act and the Divisional Forest Officer, Eluru communicated on 23-7-1967 the above proceedings dated 5-10-1966 to his subordinates. On 11-12-1967 the Board of Revenue requested the Collector, West Godavari to verify whether the land in question is within the boundaries of the sketch produced before the Settlement Officer, Visakhapatnam. The verification report was sent on 23-12-1967 by the Inspector, Survey and Land Records, Eluru. Thereafter the Collector, Eluru wrote to the Tahsildar, Chintalapudi on 15-2-1968 for dropping further action against Ramaiah in regard to the land in question.

(3.) Thereafter on 1-11-1973 the Manager, Chintalapudi issued a notice to S. Venkateswara Rao, the son of S. Ramaiah questioning his right to be in possession of the property. Questioning the said notice, the latter filed W.P.No. 1636/1974 and the said writ petition was allowed by Chinnappa Reddy, J. (as he then was) on 28-10-1975 quashing the notice after referring to the grant of patta to S. Ramaiah and the subsequent' orders referred to above.