ASHIFAQUDDIN Vs. MOHAMMAD AZIZUDDIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question, whether the ordinary Civil Court has jurisdiction to entertain a suit between persons not belonging to Scheduled Tribes, in respect of lands situated in a Scheduled Area of Telangana Area in the State of Andhra Pradesh arises for consideration in this batch of appeals.

(2.) The question arises this way. The appeal A. S. No. 663/1974 has been preferred against the judgment and decree of the learned District Judge, Adilabad, in O. S. No. 1 of 1966. The suit lands are situated in Utnoor village which is a scheduled area. The suit O. S. 1/1966 was filed by the plaintiffs the respondents herein for a declaration of their title to the said lands and to the office of Mutsaddi or in the alternative for a declaration of their right to a 4/5th share in the said lands and for joint possession of the same along with the first defendant. A claim was also made for recovery of past and future profits. The suit was decreed declaring the title of the plaintiffs and defendants to certain shares and that they were entitled to be in joint possession of the suit properties along with the first defendant. The past and future profits were directed to be ascertained in a separate enquiry. The defendants preferred the appeal A. S. 663 of 1974.

(3.) In this appeal it is contended for the appellants that the District Court, Adilabad, had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit as the suit lands are situated in Utnoor, which is a Scheduled area, that it is only the competent Agency Courts constituted under the Agency Rules that have jurisdiction to entertain the suit and therefore the judgment and decree of the lower Court are null and void.