Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : V.V.S.RAO
Vangapalli Sudhakar Rao - Appellant
Versus
State OF A.P. through authorised Officer (Land Reforms), karimnagar - Respondent
Decided On : 04-27-01
Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 136 - Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms Act, 1973 - Sections 8, 10, 20, 16, 9 and 21 - Civil Procedure Code, 1908 - Sections 152 and 115 - Specific Relief Act - Section 31 - Employees Provident funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 - Section 14 - Land acquisition Act - Section 6 - Land Reforms - Petitioner preferred an appeal of Act before Land reforms Appellate Tribunal in L - R - A and same was dismissed - Petitioner filed C - R - P - This Court by order allowed C - R - P - and remanded matter to appellate Tribunal - Again appellate Tribunal by order confirmed order of tribunal - Yet again petitioner filed C - R - P - It was contended before this Court that appellate Tribunal passed an ex part order as advocate engaged by petitioner could not attend Court as he shifted his practice - Therefore petitioner could not file rectified affidavit as directed by this court in C - R - P - Having regard to facts and circumstances of case this Court allowed C - R - P and remanded matter to appellate tribunal directing to decide in light of directions in C - R - P - Matter went back to appellate Tribunal which finally determined excess land which was surrendered by petitioner - Held, Therefore submission of learned Counsel that Land Reforms tribunal ought not have exercised power of Rules after long lapse of years cannot be considered - Further as rightly contended by learned Counsel for petitioner surrender proceedings of Act reached stage of finality only - When Tribunal took possession of land surrendered by petitioner herein - Application of Rules was admittedly filed and therefore factually submission that there is delay of years is incorrect - I therefore hold on point that for exercise of power of Rules there is no period of limitation prescribed and by process of legal interpretation it is not proper for this court to read any limitation into such provision - It was done intentionally - By very definition showing existence of facts when they are actually non-existent is fraud - Both Tribunals categorically found that land was deleted from holding twice and that land in though deleted from holding of petitioner was accepted for purpose of surrender as though it is included in declaration of petitioner - It is purely a question of fact - It is well settled that of Act is in pari materia with of Code and therefore High court should not ordinarily interfere with finding of facts recorded by tribunals Act - Petition is dismissed.
( 1 ) THE petitioner filed a declaration under section 8 of the A. P. Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973 (hereinafter called the Act ). By order dated 3-6-1977 the Land Reforms Tribunal (hereinafter called the Tribunal ) determined that the petitioner has 0. 1232 standard holdings in excess of the ceiling area. The proceedings under Section 10 of the Act for surrendering the excess land were initiated. The petitioner surrendered 0. 1232 standard holdings on 21-6-1990 and the same was accepted by the Tribunal under Section 10 (3) of the Act on 31-7-1990. The petitioner preferred an appeal under section 20 of the Act before the Land reforms Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter called the Appellate Tribunal ) in L. R. A. No. 1807 of 1977 and the same was dismissed. The petitioner filed C. R. P. No. 3953 of 1978. This Court by order dated 18-1-1979 allowed the C. R. P. and remanded the matter to the appellate Tribunal. Again the appellate Tribunal by order dated 20-9-1979 confirmed the order of the tribunal. Yet again the petitioner filed c. R. P. No. 6852 of 1979. It was contended before this Court that the appellate Tribunal passed an ex parte order as the advocate engaged by the petitioner could not attend the Court as he shifted his practice to hyderabad. Therefore, the petitioner could not file rectified affidavit as directed by this court in C. R. P. No. 3953 of 1978. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, this Court allowed the C. R. P. and remanded the matter to the appellate tribunal directing to decide in the light of the directions in C. R. P. No. 3953 of 1978. The matter went back to the appellate Tribunal which finally determined the excess land which was surrendered by the petitioner on 21-6-1990. The same was accepted by the tribunal under Section 10 (3) of the Act on 31-7-1990 and the land was taken possession from the petitioner/declarant on 18-11-1991.
( 2 ) THE respondent herein filed an application under Rule 16 (5) (b) of the A. P. Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural holdings) Rules, 1974 (hereinafter called the Rules ). In the said application the respondent inter alia stated that (I) in the verification report the lands held by the declarant were shown as 1. 9383 standard holdings whereas the actual totalling comes to 2. 0663 standard holdings and there is difference of 0. 1280 standard holdings and therefore, apparent mistake has crept in, (II) an extent of Acs. 2. 80 of Potharam village was admitted as the same was acquired in 1964 for laying Zilla Parishad road, that the said land was again deleted as per orders dated 28-9-1983 in L. R. A. No. 1807 of 1977 and as the declarant raised the issue it was found that there was no specific direction from the appellate tribunal to delete the said land again from the holding of the declarant the same was deleted by the Tribunal and therefore, the declarant got double benefit of an extent of acs. 2. 80 being deleted twice and this was a mistake which is liable to be corrected; (III) the Tribunal deleted an extent of acs. 1. 86 in S. Nos. 148 and 154 of Potharam village. But, the declarant surrendered the same land along with other lands towards surplus and the Tribunal without verification passed orders accepting and approving surrender of the lands on 31-7-1990 which were in fact deleted at the stage of computation, that the acceptance of surrender is error and is liable to be cancelled and (IV) the clerical, incorrect or arithmetical mistakes in the judgments or errors arising by accidental slip or omission are liable for correction under Rule 16 (5) of the Rules.
( 3 ) THE Tribunal by order dated 8-12-1995 noticed the above omissions are correct and directed that an extent of 0. 3444 standard holdings towards difference in totalling and other extents be added to the holding of the declarant and accordingly directed the declarant to file surrender statement to the extent of 0. 2212 standard holdings as
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