SEETHARAMA REDDY, J.

( 1 ) OUR learned brother Jeevan Reddy, J. before whom this Writ Petition challenging the authority and jurisdiction of the Land Reforms Tribunal to reopen the order passed earlier by it, came up for hearing, thought it proper that there should be an authoritative pronouncement on the question, inasmuch as there is no decision of this Court on the said question and also because there are several such Writ Petition pending for decision before this Court.

( 2 ) THE facts that led to this writ petition, in brief, are that the petitioner filed a declaration of his holding as required by Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act 1975, hereinafter referred to as "the Act". In col. (6) of the declaration, he mentioned 5 minor children besides his wife as the members of his family. The Tahsildar stated in his verification as per Rule 4 (4) of the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Rules 1974, that the petitioners family consists of seven members; and an issue, namely issue No. 7 was framed by the Tribunal to the effect , "whether declarants family unit consists of seven members?" It appears from the

Click Here to Read the rest of this document