This writ petition has been filed questioning the order of the Joint Collector, Ranga Reddy District, in File No.B3/4195/95 dated 18.10.1997 in confirming the order of the Revenue Divisional Officer, Vikarabad Division, Ranga Reddy District, in File No.D/3225/1986 dated 04.03.1995 in rejecting the application of the first petitioner - late K. G. Krishna Murthy for grant of occupancy rights under Section 5 of the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Abolition of Inams Act, 1955 (for short 'the Act') and to set aside the same as illegal and arbitrary by issuing a Writ of Mandamus.

2. The original applicant - K. G. Krishna Murthy, whose application has been rejected by order of the Revenue Divisional Officer dated 04.03.1995, filed an appeal under Section 24 of the Act and died during the pendency of the appeal and his legal heirs, were brought on record, are petitioners 2 to 9 herein. The respondents 1 and 2 are the Joint Collector and Revenue Divisional Officer respectively and the third respondent - Rama Chary, also died during the pendency of the writ petition and his legal heirs were brought on record as respondents 4 to 7 herein.

3. Heard the arguments of the learned Senior Counsel, Sri Vilas Afzalpurkar for the petitioners; learned Government Pleader for respondents 1 and 2 and Sri N. Vasu Deva Reddy, learned counsel for the respondents 3 to 7.

4. It is the case of the petitioners that late K. G. Krishna Murthy filed an application before the Revenue Divisional Officer, Vikarabad for grant of occupancy rights certificate under the Act in respect of the lands in an extent of Ac.13.05 cents in Sy.No.161 and an extent of Ac.15.30 cents in Sy.No.162 totaling an extent of Ac.28.35 guntas situated at Antharam Village, Tandur Mandal, Ranga Reddy District on the ground that he was Kabiz-e-Kadim in possession of the lands since 1958 for more than 12 years before the date of vesting i.e. 01.11.1973. Therefore, he is entitled for grant of occupancy rights certificate. The said land is an Inam land and one Nereti Narsappa was the original Inamdar and on an application filed by the said Inamdar to correct the entries, the same was allowed in File No.A1/9493/1962 dated 30.04.1963 and the said order was implemented as per File No.A2/709/63 dated 21.05.1964. The applicant purchased the said land from the Inamdar on 01.06.1963 and since then the petitioners have been in absolute and uninterrupted possession and enjoyment of the said land and paying land revenue. The said lands were computed in the holding of the petitioners by the Land Reforms Tribunal in C.C.No.T/1161/75 dated 03.12.1976 and declared as non-surplus holder. The possession of the first petitioner was proved as on 01.11.1973 but his application for grant of occupancy rights certificate was erroneously rejected by the Revenue Divisional Officer and confirmed by the Joint Collector.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that both the authorities have relied on earlier proceedings passed under the Act and therefore, the rejection of his name based on the earlier orders rejecting to grant occupancy rights certificate are illegal and unsustainable. Therefore, the impugned order is liable to be set aside and the matter requires to be remitted to the Revenue Divisional Officer. In support of his contention the learned counsel also relied on a judgment of the Supreme Court in SAYYED ALI v. A.P. WAKF BOARD1 contending that the earlier proceedings, decided by the authorities not having jurisdiction, cannot be relied on while considering the application of the first petitioner for grant of occupancy rights.

6. The facts decided by the Supreme Court relate to the wakf properties and insofar as the wakf properties are concerned, it is stated that the Tahsildar has no right or authority to decide as to whether a property is wakf property or not; theref