JUDGMENT (S.B. Sinha, J.)

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal is directed against a judgment and order dated 8.4.2004 whereby and whereunder the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabd set aside the judgment and order dated 24.4.1998 passed by the VII Senior Civil Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad in O.S. No. 573 of 1991 and remanded the matter back to the learned trial judge.

2.1 Devi Singh is the predecessor-in-interest of the respondent. The original dispute between the parties centered round 1250 square yards of land purported to be situated in a market called `Maidan Bazaar Jamerath situate at Karvan Aspan and bounded on the east by canal and police station, on the west by `Bakar Mandi, on the north by cement road, graveyard and huts belonging to the plaintiff and on the south by land, huts and graveyards belonging to the plaintiff. It was said to be the ancestral property of the plaintiff and was owned by him having been purchased by his ancestors.

2.2 In the said suit, Devi Singh sought for permanent injunction restraining the appellant herein from interfering with his peaceful possession and enjoyment over the said property. The said property consisted of open land.

2.3 The said suit was decreed on or about 9.4.1960. An appeal was preferred thereagainst by the appellant, which by a judgment and order dated 16.2.1967 was allowed by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

3. Devi Singh preferred an appeal before this Court. The fact of the matter has been discussed in details by this Court in a judgment reported in Devi Singh v. Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad [(1973) 4 SCC 66].

3.1 From a perusal of the said judgment, it appears, that a purported claim was made by Dhan Singh over 2750 square yards bearing Survey Nos. 5943 and 5944 situated at Karwan Aspan on the premise that he had filed an application before the competent authority in the year 1921 stating that the same had fallen into the prohibited area. Indisputably, the property involved in the said suit had been acquired and compensation had been awarded to Dhan Singh for 1250 square yards and not for the entire plot of the area which is said to be 2750 square yards. This Court found that the plot for which compensation had been paid to Dhan Singh for an area of 1250 square yards was far removed from the Bazaar and there were several other plots which intervened. It was furthermore noticed that it was somewhat difficult on the present state of the record to reconcile the case of the defendant Corporation that the entire area covered by the sale deed had been acquired for which compensation had been paid to Dhan Singh with the relative situation of the Bazaar and the plot measuring 1250 square yards. It was held:

15. It is difficult to ignore the entire proceedings before the Sarfe-Khas and the documentary evidence according to which possession was given of the land or the property including the Bazaar by the Sarfe-Khas to the plaintiff after a full investigation of his claim in the matter. There was no allegation that all those proceedings were without jurisdiction or were collusive although it has now been suggested before us on behalf of the defendant Corporation that the Sarfe-Khas Department had ceased to exist in February 1949 by virtue of the Sarfe-Khas Merger Regulation 1358 Fasli. There is no indication in the orders of the various authorities including that of the Minister that the Sarfe- Khas had ceased to have any jurisdiction about deciding whether the property over which the Sarfe-Khas laid claim was the property of a private individual or was part of the personal estate of the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad.

16. It has been maintained before us on behalf of the plaintiff that the orders made by the Sarfe-Khas were admissible and relevant under Section 13 of the Evidence Act. These points were not gone into by the courts below and have still not been decided and we do not wish to express any opinion on them. The agreements to which reference has previously been m