Judgment

S.B. Majmudar, J.-The State of Andhra Pradesh on grant of special leave to appeal has brought in challenge the judgment and order dated 28.2.1978 rendered by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Civil Revi­sion Petition No. 3037 of 1997.

2. A few facts leading to this appeal deserve to be noted at the out set.

3. The respondent was holding some agricultural lands in the State of Andhra Pradesh. These lands were governed by the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973 (Act 1 of 1973) (hereinafter to be referred to as the ‘Act’). As per the provisions of the said Act a person who was holding such lands would be entitled to retain possession of lands within the ceiling area permitted by the Act and the excess lands had to be surrendered to the State. The respondent, therefore, filed a declaration under Section 8(1) of the Act on behalf of his family unit consisting of himself, his wife and two minor unmarried daughters. The Land Reforms Tribunal, Kakinada, by its order dated 12.7.1976 held that the holding of the respondent’s unit was 1.6798 Standard Holdings, after excluding certain lands alleged to have been sold by the respondent and his wife un