Reserved by the Governor on the 7th January, 1978 for the consideration and assent of the President, received the assent of the President on the 1st February, 1978.

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S.1 Short title, extent and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the Andhra Pradesh Watans (Abolition) Act, 1978.

(2) It extends to the whole of the Telangana area of the State of Andhra Pradesh.

(3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 8th December, 1977.

S.2 Definitions

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:-

(a) 'appointed day' means the day on which this Act came into force;

(b) 'Collector' means any officer-in-charge of a revenue division and includes a Deputy Collector, a Sub-Collector, an Assistant Collector and any other officer appointed by the Government to perform the functions of the Collector under this Act;

(c) 'Government' means the State Government;

(d) 'gumastha' means a person appointed to officiate in place of a watandar;

(e) 'hissedar' means a person who is not a holder of a watan but who is recognised as a shareholder and is entitled to, a share in the haq-e-malikana appertaining to the watan, that is to say, the one-third of the amount of the average scale of remuneration to which the concerned watandar is entitled;

(f) 'notification' means a n


S.3 Abolition of certain watans together with the right to hold office and the incidents thereof

(1) With effect on and from the appointed day, notwithstanding anything in any law, custom, usage, settlement, grant, sanad or order--

(a) all watans shall stand abolished;

(b) all rights connected with watans, including all rights to hold any office, whether hereditary, contractual or otherwise, and any liability to render service, appertaining to the watans, shall stand extinguished;

(c) any provisions of law, usage or practice relating to the succession to any watan shall be void; and

(d) all other incidents appertaining to watans shall stand extinguished.

(2) Every watandar, hissedar or gumastha appertaining to a watan and holding such watan on the appointed day shall, notwithstanding anything in any contract, custom, usage or other settlement, cease to hold such watan on the abolition of the watans and he shall be entitled to


S.4 Amount to be paid on abolition of watans

(1) Notwithstanding anything in any law, custom, settlement, grant, sanad or, order, a watandar whose watan is abolished or a hissedar who ceases to be entitled to the right to perform the duties of a hereditary village office, in consequence of the provisions of this Act shall be paid an amount equal to seven times the one-third of the amount of the average scale of remuneration to which such watandar or hissedar is entitled annually immediately prior to the appointed day:

Provided that where there are more than one person as watandar or hissedar, each of such persons shall be entitled to receive such sum in proportion to his share in the watan.

Explanation :- (a) In calculating the average scale of remuneration, three immediately preceding years scale of remuneration shall be taken into consideration.

(b) For the purposes of this section, a gumastha, deputy or substitute


S.5 Method of determining amount for extinguishment of other rights

(1) If any person is aggrieved consequent on the extinguishment or modification of any rights to, or interest in his property and if no amount for such extinguishment or modification has been provided for in this Act such person may apply to the Collector for payment of an amount therefor.

(2) An application under sub-section (1) shall be made to the Collector in prescribed form and within the prescribed time.

(3) The Collector shall, on receipt of such application and after holding an enquiry in the prescribed manner, make an award determining the amount payable in the manner and according to the method provided for in sub-section (1) of Section 23 and Section 24 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.




S.6 Appeal

(1) Any person aggrieved by the award of the Collector made under sub-section (3) of Section 5 may appeal to the Commissioner for Land Revenue within sixty days from the date of communication of the award.

(2) In deciding appeal under sub-section (1), the Commissioner for Land Revenue shall exercise all the powers which a civil court has and follow the same procedure which the court follows in deciding appeals from the decree or order of an original court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

(3) Notwithstanding anything in the Andhra Pradesh Court-Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1956, every appeal made under this Act to the Commissioner for Land Revenue shall bear a court-fee stamp of such value as may be prescribed.




S.7 Finality of award of Collector and decision of Commissioner for Land Revenue

The award made by the Collector subject to an appeal to the Commissioner for Land Revenue and the decision of the Commissioner for Land Revenue shall be final and shall not be questioned in any court of law.




S.8 Power to make rules

(1) The Government may, by notification, make rules for carrying out all or any of the purposes of this Act.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for--

(a) the procedure to be followed by the Collector in determining questions as to whether or not a person was the watandar, hissedar, gumastha or any other person on their behalf;

(b) the procedure relating to appeals before the Commissioner for Land Revenue;

(c) any other matter which has to be or may be prescribed.

(3) Every rule under this Act shall, immediately after it is made, be laid before each House of the State Legislature if it is in session and if it is not in session, in the session, immediately following, for a total period of fourteen days which may be comprised in one session, or in two successive ses


S.9 Power to remove difficulties

If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Government may make such orders, not inconsistent with the purpose of this Act as appear to them to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing the difficulty:

Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiration of two years from the commencement of this Act.



S.10 Repeal

(1) On the commencement of this Act, the provisions of the Dastoor-ul-Amal Patel Patwaries, the Firmans, the orders and circulars pertaining to watans and village offices thereof shall stand repealed in so far as they are repugnant to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

(2) The Andhra Pradesh Watans (Abolition) Ordinance, 1977, is hereby repealed.

(3) Upon such repeal, the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh General Clauses Act, 1891, shall apply.