ORDER

Civil Appeal Nos. 5030-5036 of 2004; Civil Appeal Nos. 5037-5038 of 2004; Civil Appeal No. 5028 of 2004; Civil Appeal No. 5029 of 2004 and Civil Appeal No. 371 of 2007;

1. Before the High Court in a group of Civil Revision Petitions filed Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 the issue under consideration was the applicability of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Courts Act, 1972 [Act No. 19 of 1972] (for short,' 1972 Act') to the Scheduled Areas of the State of Andhra Pradesh. One of the contentions raised before the High Court was that the courts established under the 1972 Act cannot be conferred any territorial jurisdiction over the Scheduled Areas and the decrees passed by the Civil Courts were nullity in relation to cases where whole cause of action arose in the Scheduled Areas.

2. The High Court, by the impugned judgments dated June 27,2000, August 2,2000 and August 25, 2000, has declared the jurisdiction of the Civil Courts functioning in the Scheduled Areas from 1972 onwards as illegal and void. It was declared consequently that all the judgments, decrees and orders passed by the Civil Courts in the Scheduled Areas from 1972 onwards were null and void.

3. The above judg