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2020 Supreme(AP) 816
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI
Lalitha Kanneganti, J.
Biradavolu Venkataramana Reddy – Appellant
Versus
State of Andhra Pradesh and Ors. – Respondents
W.P. No. 12483 of 2020
Decided On : 31-07-2020
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : A. Giridhar Rao
Point of law: When particular statue prescribes a particular procedure to be followed, the respondents being the public servants are supposed to act in accordance with the same and discharge the responsibility cast upon them. Particularly when a time frame is fixed they are bound to follow the same. But the respondents are taking years together to comply with the orders for the best reasons known to them.
Headnote:
Registration Act, 1908 - Section 22(A) - Resettlement Register Act 2017 - Section 9 - land as Dotted - Resettlement Register - Petitioner submits petitioner's family is absolute owner and possessor of land to an extent situated in Village last several decades and they are in exclusive possession and enjoyment of subject property Petitioner submits that after orders were passed by District Collector petitioner has approached respondents for deletion of subject lands from list of Prohibited Properties under Section 22(A) as they are still shown as dotted land - But District Registrar has not deleted subject land and continuing land as prohibited property and as such petitioner having no other alternative remedy has approached Court by way of present Writ Petition –
Finding of the court : Respondents to delete lands from dotted list and respondent Nos. 5 and 6 have not taken any steps to remove lands from prohibitory list under Section 22 (A) of the Act - respondents being the public servants are supposed to act in accordance with same and discharge responsibility cast upon them - Particularly when a time frame is fixed they are bound to follow same - But respondents are taking years together to comply with orders for best reasons known to them - Respondents to update resettlement register and other' revenue records including digitally maintained records duly uploading orders passed under Section 7 or 8 of Act No. 10 of 2017, as case may be within one month from date of order –
Result : Writ Petition is disposed
ORDER :
Lalitha Kanneganti, J.
1. This writ petition is filed questioning the action of the respondents particularly the respondent Nos. 5, and 6 in not implementing the orders of the respondent No. 4 in R.Dis.E1/1182/2019, dated 01.02.2019 for deletion of petitioner's land admeasuring Ac. 0-81 cents in survey No. 12-1, Ac. 0-58 cents in survey No. 14/2-12A and Ac. 0-93 cents in survey No. 14-2-12/B situated in Kanuparthipadu Village, Nellore Rural Mandal, SPSR Nellore District, from the list of prohibited property under Section 22(A) of the Registration Act, 1908 (for short the 'Act') and not entertaining the document, for registration by treating the said land as 'prohibited property'.
2. Heard Sri A. Giridhar Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue and appearing on behalf of the respondents.
3. The case of the petitioner is that the land admeasuring Ac. 0-81 cents in survey No. 12-1, Ac. 0-58 cents in survey No. 14/2-12A and Ac. 0-93 cents in survey No. 14-2-12/B situated at Kanuparthipadu Village, Nellore Rural Mandal, SPSR Nellore District is a private zeroithi land. But by inadvertence in the resettlement Register, the subject land was shown as dotted (....) land and therefore the said land was treated as a Government land and included in the prohibitory property list for registration under Section 22-A of the Act. It is stated that batch of writ petitions were filed before this Court questioning the action of the Government and Registering Authority in treating the dotted (....) land as prohibited property for registration based on the entry in the re-settlement register. This Court gave directions to the respondents therein to register the lands holding that mere entries of the land as dotted in resettlement register is not conclusive proof of evidence that the land belongs to Government. Subsequently in a batch of writ appeals Division Bench of this Court has directed the Government to constitute a committee to deal with the grievances relating to the lands entered in prohibitory lists including the dotted (....) lands. Pursuant to the order of Division Bench of this Court, the Government has enacted Act No. 10 of 2017, "which is called as Andhra Pradesh Dotted Lands (Updation in Re-settlement Register) Act, 2017 (for brevity 'Act No. 10 of 2017'), which has come into force w.e.f. 14.06.2017.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner's family is the absolute owner and possessor of land to an extent of Ac. 0-81 cents in survey No. 12-1, Ac. 0-58 cents in survey No. 14/2-12A and Ac. 0-93 cents in survey No. 14-2-12/B situated in Kanuparthipadu Village, Nellore Rural Mandal for the last several decades and they are in exclusive possession and enjoyment of the subject property. After the Act No. 10 of 2017 has come into force, the petitioner has submitted application as per the provisions of the said Act and the Tahsildar, as prescribed under Rule 4(c) issued a notice in Form-VII calling for objections or claim from anyone within thirty days. The said notice was affixed in the notice board of Tahsildar, Gram Panchayat office and no objections were received from anyone. Thereafter the Tahsildar has forwarded the same to the District Level Committee. The District Level Committee after considering the matter in detail found that the claimant/predecessor is in continuous possession of the subject land for a period of more than 12 years preceding 2017 and issued orders to the Tahsildar, Nellore Rural to take necessary action to recognize the subject land of the petitioner as patta land and incorporate the changes in re-settlement register and other revenue records of the village duly subdividing the subject land from the original survey number in respect of the petitioner's land. The District Level Committee, represented by its Chairperson/District Collector issued directions on 01.02.2019 to the District Registrar, Nellore to delete the subject land from
