Manne Veera Rani vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh
2021 Latest Caselaw 3467 AP

  THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.SATYANARAYANA MURTHY

                WRIT PETITION No.19938 OF 2021
ORDER:-


      This    petition      is   filed    under          Article   226   of    the

Constitution of India, seeking the following relief:-

   "... to issue a Writ, order or direction more particularly one in the
   nature of a Writ of Mandamus, declaring that the action of the
   respondents in including petitioners land admeasuring Ac.11.81

cents in Sy.No.325/1 to 5 of Teegalavancha Village, Recharla Panchayath, Chintalapudi Mandal, in prohibitory properties list without considering the legal position and the orders of this Honourable Court in W.P.No. 22304 of 2009 is illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional and violation of Article 14 and 300-A of Constitution of India and consequently direct the District Collector, West Godavari District to delete petitioners property admeasuring Ac.11.81 cents in Sy.No.325/1 to 5 of Teegalavancha Village, Recharla Panchayath, Chintalapudi Mandal from prohibitory properties in the interest of justice and pass such other orders...."

2. The case of the petitioners is that the 1st petitioner is

the absolute owner and possessor of the land to an extent of

Ac.3.60 cents in Sy.No.325/1, an extent of Ac. 1.00 cents in Sy.No.

325/3 and an extent of Ac. 2.00 cents in Sy.No. 325/5 of

Teegalavancha Village, Recharla Panchayath, Chintalapudi

Mandal, having purchased the same from his vendor Veduruparthi

Venkateswara Rao under a Registered Sale Deed No.1262 of 2010.

The 1st petitioner's vendor in turn purchased same in the public

auction conducted by District Cooperative Central Bank Limited,

Eluru through PACS, Yerrampalli in E.P.No.1048/2004-05 and

issued Sale Certificate in his favour.

3. The 2nd petitioner purchased the land to an extent of Ac.

4.21 cents in Sy.No. 325/2 and an extent of Ac. 1.00 cents in

Sy.No. 325/5 of Teegalavancha Village, Recharla Panchayath,

Chintalapudi Mandal, under a Registered Sale Deed No. 1261 of

2010. The 2nd petitioner's vendor in turn purchased the same in

the public auction conducted by District Co-operative Central

Bank Limited, Eluru through PACS, Yerrampalli in E.P.No.8658 of

2000-01.

4. The above said land was initially assigned in favour of one

Sundaraneedi Gopal and Veeravalli Venkanna respectively. They

mortgaged the said property with the Primary Agricultural

Cooperative Society, Yerrampalli, which is the subsidiary of the

District Cooperative Central Bank, West Godavari. Since, the loan

amount was not repaid, the said property was brought to sale and

an auction was conducted and the sale certificates were issued in

favour of the vendors of the petitioners. The revenue authorities

have also issued Pattadar Pass Book and Title Deeds in favour of

the petitioners and their names were mutated in all revenue

records for the subject land. The petitioners came to know that the

land is notified under prohibited property list. Therefore the

petitioners submitted a representation dated 26.06.2018 to the 3rd

respondent with a request to delete the land from the prohibited

property list and the same is pending consideration, though this

Court issued a direction in W.P.No.16599 of 2017 to the

respondents to delete the subject land from the prohibited property

list, which is illegal and arbitrary. Hence inaction of the 3rd

respondent is questioned in this writ petition and requested to

issue a direction as stated supra.

5. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the

learned Assistant Government Pleader for Registration & Stamps

appearing for the respondents.

6. No counter is filed by the respondents.

7. It is the contention of the petitioners that though there is

a prohibition for alienation of the assigned land as per Section 3 of

A.P. Assigned Land (Prohibition of Transfers) Act 1977 there is an

exemption under Section 6 of the said Act, it reads as follows:

Sec.6 Exemption : Nothing in this Act shall apply to the assigned lands held on mortgage by the State or Central Government, any local authority, a co-operative society, a scheduled bank or such other financial institution owned, controlled or managed by a State Government or the Central Government, as may be notified by the Government in this behalf."

8. Learned counsel for the petitioners while dealing with

Section 6 of the said Act placed reliance on a judgment of erstwhile

High Court of A.P at Hyderabad in Sub Registrar, Srikalahasthi

vs. K.Guravaiah and another1 . On the strength of the principle

laid down in the said judgment by Division Bench, he requested to

issue direction.

9. In any view of the matter, when land is mortgaged with

Co-operative Society, which is the subsidiary of District

Cooperative Central Bank. According to Section 3 (2) of A.P

Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977 (for short Act

IX of 1977), no landless poor person shall transfer any assigned

land, and no person shall acquire any assigned land, either by

purchase, gift, lease, mortgage, exchange or otherwise. Clause 3

2009 (3) ALT 85(DB)

further says that any transfer made in contravention of the

provision of sub-section (1) of sub-section (2) or subsection (2-A)

shall be deemed to be null and void., Clause 4 says that The

Provisions of this section shall apply to any transaction of the

nature referred to in sub-section (2) in execution of a decree or

order of a Civil Court or of any award or order of any other

authority. When the property was sold in execution of decree by

the Co-operative Society or Bank, the property is exempted from

application of provisions of Act IX of 1977. Therefore, sale of

assigned land by Registrar of Co-operative Societies is saved and

this view is fortified by the judgment of Division Bench of erstwhile

High Court of A.P at Hyderabad in The Sub-Registrar v. K.

Guravaiah's case (referred supra), in para No.12 of the judgment

the Court discussed about validity of such sale and finally

concluded that when bid was knocked down in favour of

petitioners is confirmed and sale deed has been executed by the

concerned Co-operative Bank, the sale is valid. When once the

property was mortgaged to the Cooperative Society, which is not

prohibited, sold in the auction for realization of debt due under the

award, such transaction is exempted from application of provisions

of Act IX of 1977. Hence, I find that transfer in favour of petitioners

cannot be said to be in violation of provisions of Act IX of 1977.

10. In view of the facts and circumstances of this case, 3rd

respondent/ District Collector is directed to delete the land to an

extent of Ac. 11.81 cents, situated in Sy.No. 325/1 to 5 of

Teegalavancha Village, Recharla Panchayat, Chintalapudi Mandal,

notwithstanding the notification of the property under Section

22-A (1)(a) of Registration Act, within four (04) weeks from the date

of receipt of a copy of this order.

11. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of.

There shall be no costs.

Miscellaneous petitions pending, if any, in this Writ Petition

shall stand closed.

_________________________________________ JUSTICE M.SATYANARAYANA MURTHY Date : 13-09-2021

KK

THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.SATYANARAYANA MURTHY

WRIT PETITION No.19938 OF 2021

Date : 13.09.2021

KK