1. The land to an extent of Ac. 19.13 guntas in Survey Nos.202, 203, 204, 205, 213 and 214 of Indurthy Village in Marriguda Mandal, Nalgonda District, belong to Kishan Rao and Srinivas Rao. Nallabothu Komaraiah was the tenant of the above extent of land. Maddi Somaiah is nephew of Nallabothu Komaraiah. From out of this Ac. 19.13 guntas, Nallabothu Komaraiah gave Maddi Somaiah possession and enjoyment of Ac. 8.00 guntas of land in Survey No.202. The case of the petitioners is that Nallabothu Komaraiah has expressed no objection for grant of certificate under Section 50-B of the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Tenancy and Agricultural lands Act, 1950 (for short, ‘the Act’) validating possession of land in favour of Maddi Somaiah. Accordingly, on 21.03.1972, the Tahsildar, Deverkonda, issued Certificate under Section 50-B of the Act in favour of Maddi Somaiah. The passbooks were issued to Maddi Somaiah. In the year 1984, Nallabothu Lingaiah, who is the son of Nallabothu Komaraiah, applied for issuance of certificate under Section 38-E of the Act. On the said application filed by Nallabothu Lingaiah, the Additional Revenue Divisional Officer (LR), Nalgonda, granted certificate under Section 38-E of the Act vide his proceedings No.236/DVK’78 in the year 1978 in favour of Nallabothu Komaraiah to an extent of Ac. 10.00 guntas in Survey Nos.202, 203, 204, 205, 213 and 214 of Indurthy Village, Devarakonda Taluq, Nalgonda District. Insofar as Survey No.202 is concerned, the extent of land covered by certificate under Section 38-E of the Act was Ac. 4.12 guntas. On 19.04.1984, the petitioners herein purchased Ac. 8.00 of land in Survey No.202 from Maddi Somaiah. The petitioners are in possession and enjoyment of the said land. They dug bore well. The land was brought into cultivation and now cultivation is regularly undertaken. The petitioners have approached the commercial banks for obtaining loans for the purpose of development and cultivation.

2. While so, on 24.07.1993, Nallabothu Lingaiah filed an application before the Mandal Revenue Officer, Marriguda, under Section 32 of the Act claiming to be the protected tenant for the entire extent of Ac. 19.13 guntas in the above survey numbers and to restore possession to the entire extent of land. The Mandal Revenue Officer, by his proceedings Case No.B/2281/1993, dated 04.04.1994, rejected the claim of the applicant for grant of possession to the entire extent of land i.e., Ac. 19.13 guntas and declared that the applicant is entitled to possession only to an extent of Ac. 10.00 guntas covered by Certificate under Section 38-E of the Act and the petitioners herein are entitled to possession and enjoyment of Ac. 8.00 guntas in Survey No.202. Aggrieved by the said order of the Mandal Revenue Officer, the 3rd respondent filed appeal before the first respondent i.e., the Joint Collector and Additional District Magistrate, Nalgonda. The Joint Collector passed orders vide proceedings No.C3/JC/TA/11/94, dated 20.10.1997, by allowing the appeal filed by the 3rd respondent. The Joint Collector and Additional District Magistrate, Nalgonda, declared that the said land is a tenancy land and ordered restoration of possession in favour of protected tenant, the legal heir of which protected tenant is the 3rd respondent in the writ petition. Aggrieved thereby, this writ petition is instituted.

3. Heard Sri P. Venkateswara Rao, learned counsel for the petitioners, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue (Telangana) for Respondent Nos.1, 2 and 15 and Sri P. Ramakrishna Reddy, learned counsel for Respondent Nos.3 to 10.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioners contends that the vendor of the petitioner was validly issued Section 50-B certificate and such certificate was in force when the petitioners purchased the land and is still in force. The said certificate is not annulled. The third respondent has not filed appeal against the issuance of Section 50-B certificate and, therefore, the order