The classification of land under Section 22-A of the Registration Act must follow due process, and mere entries in revenue records do not confer ownership rights.

ORDER :

1. This writ petition has been filed seeking a writ of mandamus to declare that the Endorsement No.E5/531/2018 dated 26.04.2019 of the 1^st respondent, District Collector, Ranga Reddy District, reaffirming that the subject land in Sy.No.8/2 admeasuring Acs.3.12 guntas situated in Jalpally village, Balapur Mandal, Ranga Reddy District (hereinafter referred to as ‘the subject land’) is prohibited from registration under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908 and not deleting it from the prohibitory list, as illegal and arbitrary and consequently to direct the respondents to treat the said land as private patta land and also to direct the 2nd respondent, Sub-Registrar, Champapet, to entertain and register sale deeds in respect of the said land and release the same after due registration.

Facts giving rise to filing this writ petition briefly stated as under

2. It is the case of the petitioner that he is the absolute owner and possessor of the subject land having purchased the same from his vendor, Hafeez Abdul Lateef, vide registered sale deed bearing document No.2649 of 1998 dated 30.04.1998. The vendor of petitioner claims that he has got title under a faisal patti entry recorded in the name of Syed Sharfuddin Khadri, which is suffice to say that the subject land is a private land.

3. While so, the petitioner, with an intention to sell the subject property, procured a prospective buyer and approached the 2^nd respondent for enquiring about the registerability of the subject land and wherefrom he came to know that the subject land is included in prohibitory list under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) and therefore, he applied for de-notification of the subject land from the Section 22-A of the Act and his request for de-notification has been rejected by the 1^st respondent vide impugned Endorsement dated 26.04.2019 on the File No.E5/531/2018. Assailing the same, the petitioner filed the present writ petition.

4. On behalf of the respondent No.1, District Collector, while denying the writ averments, has filed counter affidavit, inter alia, stating that the land to an extent of Acs.5.12 guntas in Sy.No.8 of Jalpally village was recorded as “Kharij Katha” lands (Sarkari) as per the Khasra Pahanie of the year 1954-55. His specific stand is that the Khasra Pahanie is considered to be a basic record of right prepared under Regulation No.4 of A.P. (Telangana Area) Record of Rights in Land Regulation 1358 Fasli. As per the Regulation 13 of the Regulations, any entry in the said record of rights shall be presumed to be true until the contrary is proved. The 1358 Regulations were in force and the same were repealed by the A.P. Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971 and the Rules made thereunder. The Khasra prepared under the above said Regulations would disclose the nature of the land, classification, extent and the Revenue cess payable to the Government and the name of enjoyer and pattedar’s. Admittedly, the subject land was recorded in the Khasra Pahanie as “Kharij Katha” Sarkari, which denotes that the land originally belongs to Pattadars was accounted for remittance of revenue cist.

5. He would further submit that the entries recorded in the Khasra pahanie were continued up to 1955-58. Thereafter, in the pahanie for the year 1961-62, the classification of the land was mentioned as ‘Kharij Katha Sarkari’ and in possession column, the name of one Shareefuddin and others were mentioned as possessors. As per the pahanie 1963-64, Sy.No.8 was sub-divided with two survey numbers as Sy.No.8/1, to an extent of Acs.2.00 guntas and Sy.No.8/2 to an extent of Acs.3.12 guntas was recorded in the name of Shar