STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH Vs. K RAJI REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two revisions arise out of the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973 (herinafter referred to as the 'Act'). The revision petitioner is the Government.

(2.) The land-holder (29th respondent) tiled a declaration under Sec. 8of the Act. He claimed certain deductions on the ground that the land was the subject-matter of agreements of sale and the alienees have been in possession. The Land Reforms Tribunal negatived this contention holding that the agreements of sale are not proved. The declarant carried the matter in appeal. The Appellate Authority held that, excepting items 1 and 11, the other sales are genuine and excluded the land covered by items 2 to 10 and 12. Being aggrieved thereby, the Government has come up in revision.

(3.) When the revisions came up for hearing before our learned brotherSeetharam Reddy, J, the petitioner relied upon the decision of the Supreme Court in State of A.P. vs. Mohd Ashrafuddin in which it was held that the land covered by agreements of sale can be included both in the holding of the land-holder as well as the vendee. The learned counsel for the declarant (29th respondent) sought to support the order of the Appellate Authority on the ground that even if the order of the appellate authority is illegal, it is not open to the High Court to interfere under Sec. 21 of the Act, as the power of the High Court must be confined only to errors of jurisdiction and not to errors of fact or even of law. The learned Judge, having regard to the importance of the question, referred the case to a Division Bench and that is how these revision petitions are before us.