Hon’ble A.P. Sahi, J.—The two petitioners, Dev Sharma and Gaurav, have prayed for quashing of the order dated 10th March, 2003 passed by the Additional Collector (Finance & Revenue) Gautambudh Nagar, in case No. 33 of 2001, whereby the learned Additional Collector has come to the conclusion that the proceedings initiated under Sub-section 4 of Section 198 of the U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Act, 1950 are not barred by time, as in view of the submissions so raised, the action having been taken suo motu under the said Act are valid and that notices should be issued calling upon the petitioners and such other persons to examine as to whether the allotment of land in favour of the petitioners in 1954 was genuine and in accordance with law or not. Assailing the said order the petitioners approached the Board of Revenue by filing a revision which was also dismissed affirming the order of the Additional Collector. Hence, this petition.

2. The litigation has a chequered history and therefore a brief background would be necessary to understand the controversy.

3. The petitioners with several others claim that allotment was made in their favour by the Gaon Sabha and had the sanction of the competent authority under the then existing provisions of Section 195 of the 1950 Act. The petitioners also claim that they fell in the order of preference as then existed under Section 198 of the Act. It is further their contention that Rules were followed for such allotment and there was no irregularity in the procedure prescribed as contemplated under Rule 173 to 175 of the U.P. Z.A. & L.R. Rules, 1952. After the allotment in the year 1954, which was under the prescribed rules the same also finds entry in several public documents. The names of the petitioners or their predecessors were entered into the revenue records as bhumidhar with non-transferable rights and later on in view of the provisions of U.P. Act No. 8 of 1977 the petitioners became bhumidhars and are continuously in possession over the land in dispute.

4. The title and possession of the petitioners came to be tinkered with for the first time in the year 1995 and they were sought to be dispossessed by the authorities on the pretext that the land vests in the Gaon Sabha and that the names of the petitioners have been wrongly recorded, hence, they deserve to be dispossessed. The petitioners approached this Court through writ petition No. 1958 of 1995 alongwith other petitioners and the said writ petition was disposed of on 20th January, 1995 by the following order :

“BY THE COURT

The petitioners have alleged that they have been granted patta in 1954 but now they apprehend that they may be dispossessed.

Learned counsel for the petitioners states that as yet no order for dispossession has been passed under Section 198 (4) of the U.P. Z.A.L.R. Act. Hence this petition is premature. However, I clarify that the petitioners shall not be dispossessed except in accordance with law.

With these observations the petition is finally disposed of.

dated 20.1.1995 Sd./- M. Katju.”

5. It appears that after the disposal of the said writ petition, on 27th January, 1995, an endorsement came to be made in the revenue record of rights (Khatauni) directing expunging of the names of the petitioners and the other tenure holders who were recorded over the said land in proceedings under Sections 33/39 of the U.P. Land Revenue Act, 1901. This action of the revenue authorities came to be challenged by the petitioners in writ petition No. 3751 of 1995. The said writ petition was entertained and after exchange of affidavits and summoning of the records the petition was allowed holding that the basis for expunging the entries did not fall within the scope of correction and therefore the name of the petitioners could not be expunged summarily. It was also observed that if the allotment in favour of the petitioners was sought to be annulled then the same could have been done only under the provisions of Section 198 and not