G. BIKSHAPATHY, J, J.

( 1 ) ALL the matters are placed before the Division Bench for answering the references made by the learned Brother p. S. Narayana, J. The issues arise under the provisions of A. P. (Andhra Area) Tenancy act, 1956 (hereinafter called the act ).

( 2 ) THE circumstances leading to the reference as spelt out from the Order of reference of the learned Judge are briefly narrated hereunder.

( 3 ) THE Revision Petitioners are the landlords and the respondents are the tenants. The tenants filed petitions before the Special Officer, Guntur for a declaration that they are the cultivating tenants and consequential relief of perpetual injunction restraining the landlords from interfering with the possession over the petition schedule lands. The original authority allowed the applications of the tenants as prayed for. Aggrieved by the said Order of the original authority, they filed appeals before the appellate authority District Judge, Guntur. The learned appellate authority also dismissed the appeals filed by the landlords thereby confirming the Order of the Special officer. Aggrieved by the said Order of the appellate authority, the present revisions have been preferred by the landlords under article 227 of Constitution of India.

( 4 ) THE learned counsel appearing for the petitioner-landlords inter alia contended before the learned Single Judge that the applications themselves are not maintainable before the Special Officer in the absence of a Registered Lease Deed for a period of six years and admittedly all the tenants were not having any Registered lease Deed in their favour and therefore, the requirement being mandatory in nature and it is totally absent in the cases, the Special officer ought to have dismissed the applications as not maintainable. Yet, another contention sought to be projected before the learned Single Judge was that the special Officer declared them as cultivating tenants on the basis of the finding alleged to have been recorded by the Civil Court, which has no jurisdiction. In some cases, it is between the same parties and in some other cases, the finding was between the parties not connected with the dispute and thus it was submitted that the finding recorded by the Civil Court to the effect that the tenants are cultivating tenants under the A. P. (Andhra Area) Tenancy Act, was not binding on the Special Officer and the Special Officer ought not to have taken into consideration the said finding. The learned Single Judge observing that there were differences of opinion on the subject and issue is of general importance which affects the livelihood of tenants and as also the interest of landlords in the Andhra Area, found it appropriate to refer the following references to be answered by the Division Bench:"1. Whether a person claiming to be a tenant, though the landlord and tenant relationship is specifically denied, can pray for declaration of tenancy rights by filing A. T. C. in the absence of a registered Lease Deed irrespective of the tenancy being prior to the amending Act or subsequent thereto, under the provisions of A. P. (Andhra area) Tenancy Act, 1956? 2. Whether the finding of a Civil Court in a suit for a mere injunction would operate as res judicata as to the relationship of landlord and tenant in a tenancy proceedings under the provisions of A. P. (Andhra Area) tenancy Act, 1956 and whether such judgments would be relevant under section 13 of the Indian Evidence Act as against non-parties to the prior litigations?"that s how the matter came up before this court for answering the references.

( 5 ) THE learned counsel for the revision petitioners-landlords and the learned counsel for the respondents-tenants have advanced elaborate arguments in this regard and cited copious case law.

( 6 ) BEFORE dwelling upon the 2nd reference, we find it appropriate to answer 1 st reference.

( 7 ) THE A. P. (Andhra Area) Tenancy Act, 1956 received the assent of the President on 9-9-1956 and it

Click Here to Read the rest of this document