P. S. MISHRA, C. J.

( 1 ) THIS appeal has arisen from a proceeding under Article 226 of the constitution of India, seeking interference in the alleged demolition of the houses of the petitioner-respondents in Begumpet,one of the quarters of the city of Hyderabad. The prayer, which appeared quite innocuous and sensible for a direction to the appellants herein to demolish the houses only by following the procedure prescribed by law, however, is based on a claim of title, in respect of which a brief history of the land transactions is stated in the writ petition. Learned single Judge has taken notice of the facts, which read as follows:"originally the land admeasuring Ac. 8. 20 guntas in S. No. 194/12 of begumpet village, belongs to one lady Vicar-Ul-Umra. Muzafer Nawab jang, her son, after her death, gifted the said land to Syed Bin Suleman ahmed under a registered gift deed. The said Syed Bin Suleman Ahmed sold the said land under a registered sale deed dated 16th Aban 1360 f. to the Mohd. Akbar Azam, who sold the same land to Vengal Reddy and his partner Ananda Rao under a registered sale deed dated 27-2-1952. ananda Rao gifted Ac. 4. 10 guntas of land i. e. , his half share in the entire land, to his daughter K. Suseela, under a registered gift deed dated 20-2-1955. Suseela entered into an agreement of sale dated 15-3-1970 with the petitioners to sell Ac. 1. 20 guntas out of Ac. 4. 10 guntas and delivered possession of the said land to the petitioners. Thus the petitioners came into possession of the land in question and are in enjoyment of the same without any interruption by anybody. Since suseela committed breach of that agreement of sale, the petitioners filed o. S. No. 142 of 1991 on the file of the learned I Assistant Judge, City Civil court, Hyderabad for a specific performance of the said agreement of sale dated 15-3-1970. That suit was decreed on 22-3-1991. In pursuance of the said decree, the petitioners filed E. P. 14 of 1991 for execution of the sale deed and on 15-4-1991 the I Assistant Judge, City Civil Court, hyderabad executed a registered sale deed in favour of the petitioners so far as the land of Ac. 1. 20 guntas is concerned. Thus the petitioners have got right, title and possession to the said land of Ac. 1. 20 guntas in S. No. 194/12 of Begumpet village. The petitioners divided the said land into plots and sold them to others, who were inducted into possession, constructed residential houses and are residing there with their families peacefully without being interrupted by anybody, paying property tax, non-agricultural land tax, water bills, electricity consumption charges, telephone bills etc. The petitioners names were entered in the revenue records and pahanies showing that they are in possession of the said land. While matters stood thus, in January, 1994 the Executive Engineer, roads and Buildings Department and the Officers of Municipal corporation of Hyderabad came to the land and houses in question and tried to interfere with the petitioner s possession, claiming the land as belonging to them, which led to filing O. S. No. 26 of 1994 on the file of the learned District Munsif, West and South, Rangareddy District by the petitioners and in that suit in I. A. No. 46 of 1994 the Court granted status quo order on 25-1-1994 which is still in substance. "it is said the Mandal Revenue Officer, Balanagar, Mandal Revenue Officer, secunderabad and the staff of Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, accompanied by police force headed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, begumpet came and started taking measurements etc. , of the land and when the petitioner-respondents questioned them why they were doing so, they informed them that the land belonged to the Government, that the petitioner-respondents were in unauthorised possession and that they were going to demolish the buildings on 10-2-1995. Although petitioner-respondents presented the title deeds before them and sought notice of demolition, it is all

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