The main legal point established in the judgment is that the claimants had no material to prove their predecessor's status as a protected tenant, and the High Court had no scope for interference and remand of the matter.

( 1 ) LEAVE granted.

( 2 ) THE first of these appeals is preferred by Smt K. R. Krishnaveni and the second by legal representatives of Shri (sic Smt) S. J. Kurien. The appeals are preferred against the judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Civil revision Petition No. 4731 of 1997, dated 29-12-1999, whereby a learned single Judge of the High Court allowed the revision petition, set aside the order dated 1-7-1997 of the Joint Collector, Rangareddi district and remanded the matter for fresh enquiry. The revision was filed under Section 91 of the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Tenancy and Agricultural Lands act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act" ).

( 3 ) THE contesting respondents before us claim to be the legal representatives of protected tenants while the appellants are purchasers of the property from the original pattedar, Mr Adapa Narayana. The dispute is whether the predecessors of the respondents, namely, the original tenants were protected tenants or ordinary tenants.

( 4 ) FOLLOWING are the relevant facts: the lands are located in Surveys Nos. 597 and 598 of Khapra village, keesara mandal, Rangareddi district. One Adapa Narayana was the pattedar. According to the pattedar, one G. Komaraiah was cultivating the land prior to this as an ordinary tenant, that is to say, not as a protected tenant. In 1960, the said pattedar applied for permission under Section 47 of the Act for alienation of the agricultural land. Notices were issued by the Revenue divisional Officer to all concerned, including the said G. Komaraiah. It is stated that on 27-3-1960, the said Komaraiah and his brother G. Ramaswamy surrendered their rights by way of a document. On 1-7-1960, the said komaraiah gave a statement before the Revenue Divisional Officer to the effect that he was surrendering his tenancy rights and admitted having received compensation in a sum of Rs 116. According to the appellants, the name of the said Komaraiah was recorded in Part II of the revenue record in form V of Khapra village, Keesara mandal and Part II related to ordinary tenants other than the protected tenants, In the case of protected tenants, the act requires surrender before a statutory authority and in the case of an ordinary tenant, it was not necessary to obtain such permission. It is said that by way of abundant caution, the surrender statement was obtained from the revenue Divisional Officer, On 2-8-1960, permission was granted under sections 47 and 48 of the Act to the said Adapa Narayana to alienate the land in favour of Smt S. J. Kurien and Shri S. Venkataswamy. Thereafter, the abovesaid purchasers are said to have been put in possession of 20 acres and 2 guntas forming part of Surveys Nos. 597 and 598. It is stated that the purchaser Shri (sic Smt) S. J. Kurien dug wells, obtained electricity connections for drawing water from well and borrowed loans from financial institutions.

( 5 ) THE purchaser Smt Krishnaveni in her turn applied for permission under Sections 47 and 48 of the Act for alienation of half share and obtained an order on 6-11-1962 permitting sale. Similarly, Shri G. Venkataswamy also obtained permission on 28-1-1963 and both these purchasers made alienations. Thereafter, in 1970, Smt S. J. Kurien applied for permission for conversion of all the agricultural land into non-agricultural and a certificate was given on 25-5-1997 by the Tahsildar and the land in Surveys Nos, 597 and 598 was free from protected tenancy and that there were no government dues. On the basis of a report of the Revenue Divisional Officer, Hyderabad east dated 20-7-1970 submitted to the District Revenue Officer, Hyderabad district, the latter passed an order on 19-10-1970 permitting Smt Kurien to convert the land from agricultural into non-agricultural. Thereafter, she obtained a layout permission from the Gram Panchayat for plotting out the land in 5 acres 3 guntas in Survey No. 597 and plotted out the said land into various plots and sold them to various