Telangana High Court

The State Of Telangana, vs A.Nakuludu, on 13 September, 2023

Bench: Alok Aradhe, N.V.Shravan Kumar

       THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE ALOK ARADHE
                                        AND
        THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V.SHRAVAN KUMAR


                                W.A.No.737 of 2018


JUDGMENT: (Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Alok Aradhe)

        Heard        Dr.      Juttukonda          Vijaya    Laxmi,   learned

Government Pleader for Revenue for the appellants and

Mr. P.Venugopal, learned Senior Counsel appearing for

Mr. TCD.Sekhar, learned counsel for respondent No.1.

2. This intra court appeal emanates from an order

dated 07.04.2017 passed by a learned Single Judge in

W.P.No.19097 of 2006, by which writ petition preferred by

the respondent No.1 (hereinafter referred to as 'ex-

serviceman') has been allowed and the order dated 28.04.2006

passed by the Joint Collector, Ranga Reddy District (appellant

No.3) has been quashed.

3. The learned Single Judge has issued a writ of

Mandamus to the appellants herein to assign the land ::2::

admeasuring Acs.5.00 guntas in Survey No.700 situated in

Jawaharnagar Village to the ex-serviceman within a period of

four weeks.

4. In order to appreciate the grievance of the appellants,

relevant facts need mention, which are stated infra:

4.1. The erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh, sometime in

the year 1950, decided to assign the land to

ex-servicemen. The State Government, therefore, earmarked

an area admeasuring Acs.5977.03 guntas of land. The land

was initially under the possession of Military Estate Officer

and was put to use for firing practice and anti-tank exercises

by Artillery Station, Bollaram. After the military stopped

using the land, the erstwhile State Government issued

G.O.Ms.No.25 dated 23.10.1952 assigning the land to

Labour Department of the State Government to rehabilitate

the ex-servicemen. In the light of order of the State

Government dated 09.01.1958, a cooperative society namely

Jawaharnagar Cooperative Land Colonization Society ::3::

(hereinafter referred to as 'JCLCS') was constituted and was

registered.

4.2. JCLCS allotted land to 149 ex-servicemen. As there

were allegations of mismanagement against the managing

committee of JCLCS with regard to allotment of the land,

the Collector by an order dated 27.10.1968 superseded the

committee of JCLCS. A Sub-Registrar of Department of

Cooperation was appointed as Special Officer to manage the

affairs of JCLCS.

4.3. Some of the members of JCLCS submitted a

representation to the Collector. The Collector, thereupon,

made a recommendation to the State Government for

resumption of the land from JCLCS, so that the same could

be assigned to the eligible ex-servicemen directly. The State

Government accepted the proposal vide G.O.Ms.No.17

dated 05.01.1976. As per the said GO, the land

admeasuring Acs.5977.3 guntas situate at Malkaram Village,

Medchal Taluk, Hyderabad was directed to be resumed from

JCLCS and was directed to be assigned to ex-servicemen ::4::

under the scheme on priority basis. The State Government

further directed that the balance of land would be available

to be allotted to eligible landless poor of the area.

4.4. The State Government issued Memo on 27.05.1976,

by which the authorities were directed to follow the

guidelines in G.O.Ms.No.1142 dated 18.06.1954.

4.5. In the aforesaid GO revised guidelines/rules were

prescribed for assignment of Government lands. The

revised guidelines inter alia provide that Acs.5.00 of dry land

or Acs.2.50 guntas of wet land shall be allotted and the same

was to be brought under cultivation within a period of three

years. The aforesaid GO further provides that the land is

heritable, but not alienable and that the land would be

assigned only to those ex-servicemen, who are in continuous

possession subsequent to allotment of the land in their

favour by JCLCS. Thereafter, a clarification was issued

on 07.06.1977, by which the State Government provided

that assignment be also made to legal heirs of ex-

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servicemen, who were in continuous possession of the land

in question.

4.6. The Tahsildar conducted an enquiry and submitted a

proposal on 30.08.1982, in which, it was stated that 149

ex-servicemen were the eligible members and they are in

possession of the land. It was further pointed out that out

of aforesaid 149 ex-servicemen, pattas in D-Form have

already been issued to 42 persons. The Tahsildar enclosed a

list of the eligible ex-servicemen, as recommended by Zilla

Sainik Board, Ranga Reddy District. The Tahsildar also

published a notification and it was notified that an enquiry

will be conducted in relation to allotment of land by JCLCS

and pattas will be issued to all eligible ex-servicemen. After

conducting such enquiry, the Tahsildar finalized the names

of 102 ex-servicemen.

4.7. Some of the ex-servicemen filed a writ petition viz.,

W.P.No.528 of 1980 in which a direction was sought to the

District Collector and Tahsildar to issue pattas to them as

per the allotment made in their favour by JCLCS. The said ::6::

writ petition was dismissed by a learned Single Judge of this

Court on 28.01.1986. The order passed by learned Single

Judge was challenged in W.A.No.485 of 1986. A Division

Bench of this Court by an order dated 23.06.1986 disposed

of the said writ appeal and held that if the persons in

occupation are forced to surrender the land, they would be

entitled to make a representation seeking compensation for

development of the land. The State Government, in the

meanwhile, resumed the entire land from the JCLCS and

alloted major chunk of land admeasuring Acs.5020.00

guntas to various organizations and public sector

undertakings.

4.8. Some of the ex-servicemen filed bunch of writ

petitions viz., W.P.No.3912 of 1992 and batch seeking a

direction to the respondents to grant patta in favour of land

in their occupation situated at Jawaharnagar Village,

Shamirpet Mandal, Ranga Reddy District and not to

dispossess them from the land in their occupation.

::7::

4.9. The aforesaid writ petitions were decided by a

common order dated 25.03.2004. The operative portion of

the said order reads as under:

In the result, in all the writ petitions, except in W.P.Nos.17041 of 2002, 24015 of 2002, 24819 of 2002, 25681 of 2002, 962 of 2003, 2369 of 2003, 13312 of 2003, 14580 of 2003, 18491 of 2003 and 18703 of 2003, the following order is passed.

(i) Wherever the Ex-serviceman has actually in possession of the land and has brought the land under cultivation within a period of three years from the date of allotment to JCLCS, the Mandal Revenue Officer, shall consider the case and regulate the possession by issuing D-form patta in favour of ex-serviceman or his legal heir wherever necessary;

(ii) It shall be open to all the ex-

servicemen who are petitioners before this Court to appear before the Mandal Revenue Officer, Shamirpet Mandal on 15.04.2004 with a representation and necessary material with regard to the status as ex-serviceman and with regard to possession and other particulars when the Mandal Revenue Officer may fix a date for proper enquiry and complete the enquiry within a period of two months thereafter;

(iii) The Mandal Revenue Officer shall submit a detailed report containing case- wise details to the Joint Collector, Ranga Reddy District who shall sanction/issue patta to eligible ex-servicemen. Till this enquiry is completed, there shall be status ::8::

quo as on today with regard to possession.

(iv) Insofar as writ petitions in the third group mentioned hereinabove i.e., W.P.Nos.17041 of 2002, 24015 of 2002, 24819 of 2002, 25681 of 2002, 962 of 2003, 2369 of 2003, 13312 of 2003, 14580 of 2003, 18491 of 2003 and 18703 of 2003, the matters are disposed of giving liberty to all the petitioners to seek appropriate relief from the Mandal Revenue Officer for assignment of land. As the allegation that they are in possession of the land is denied, no orders as to possession can be passed in their favour, and the interim orders passed by this Court stand vacated;

(v) It shall be made clear that in no case ex-serviceman or any other person shall be allotted more than Acs.5.00 of agricultural dry land or Acs.2.50 of wet land;

(vi) As it is reported that in W.P.Nos.23914 of 2002, 20427 of 2003 and 21470 of 2003 the petitioners purchased land admeasuring less than 400 square yards from ex-servicemen for the purpose of construction of house, if they are eligible under relevant Government Orders, on payment of market value, their cases may be considered:

All the writ petitions stand disposed in terms of the above orders.

4.10. In pursuance of the aforesaid order, ex-serviceman

submitted representations. The Mandal Revenue Officer

conducted an enquiry and submitted a report on 20.01.2005.

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Thereafter, the Joint Collector, by an order dated 16.02.2006

rejected the claim of the ex serviceman (respondent), on the

ground that his name neither appears in the list of 102

eligible allottees nor he is in possession of the same. It was

further held that the ex-serviceman is not an ex-serviceman

and is not an eligible allottee of JCLCS. Accordingly, the

representation filed by the ex-serviceman for assignment of

agricultural land was rejected.

4.11. The Writ Petition No.19097 of 2006 preferred by the

ex-serviceman was allowed by a learned Single Judge by an

order dated 07.04.2017. In the aforesaid factual

background, this appeal has been filed.

5. Learned Government Pleader for Revenue

(Assignment) submitted that the learned Single Judge ought to

have appreciated that an enquiry was conducted by the Mandal

Revenue Officer on 20.01.2005. It is further submitted that

the aforesaid enquiry report was referred to by the Joint

Collector in the order dated 16.02.2006. Therefore, the ::10::

finding recorded by the learned Single Judge that the order

dated 16.02.2006 has been passed in contravention of the

order dated 25.03.2004 cannot be sustained. It is further

submitted that the Joint Collector rightly held that the

petitioner was neither the allottee of JCLCS nor was in

possession of the said land. Therefore, learned Single Judge

erred in holding that the ex-serviceman is entitled to allotment

of land.

6. On the other hand, learned Senior Counsel for

ex-serviceman (respondent No.1) has supported the order

passed by the learned Single Judge and has contended that

along with the representation, the ex-serviceman had filed

several documents in support of his claim that he was an ex-

serviceman and was in possession of the land in question.

7. We have considered the submissions made by both

sides and have perused the record.

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8. Paras 14 and 15 of the order dated 07.04.2017, passed

by the learned Single Judge in W.P.No.19097 of 2006, read as

under:

For a brief period, there was a ban of assignments by the then Government from 19.08.1978 vide G.O.Ms.No.1409 Revenue (Q) Department, but the ban was lifted by a Memo No.2270/Q1/78-3 dt.24.04.1979.

After the lifting of the ban, the District Collector, Ranga Reddy District addressed proceedings No.D1/20234/79 dt.1.8.1979 to the Tahsildar, Medchal Taluq, to issue pattas to ex-servicemen who are in possession of the land. Thereupon, the Tahsildar, Medchal Taluq issued a notification No.B6/195/76 dt.5.10.1979 stating that as per Government instructions lands were being assigned to several persons including the petitioner in Jawaharnagar Village, and if anyone has objection to the assignment he should file objections on or before 10.10.1979. The petitioner's name was mentioned in the said notification at S.No.370.

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9. Learned Government Pleader did not dispute the

correctness of the finding recorded in paras 14 and 15 of the

order passed by the learned Single Judge. A perusal of

aforesaid paragraphs clearly indicates that the ban in respect of

assignment of lands was lifted on 24.04.1979. Thereafter, the

District Collector addressed a proceeding on 01.08.1979 to the

Tahsildar, Medchal Taluq to issue pattas to ex-servicemen,

who are in possession of the land. Thereupon, the Tahsildar,

Medchal Taluq issued notification on 05.10.1979 stating that

as per Government instructions, lands were being assigned to

several persons including the ex-serviceman (respondent

No.1) in Jawaharnagar Village and if anyone has objection to

the assignment, he should file objections on or

before 10.10.1979. The name of the ex-serviceman

(respondent No.1) was included in the said notification at

serial No.370.

10. Thus, from a perusal of aforesaid paragraphs of the

order of the learned Single Judge, it is evident that an officer ::13::

of the Government viz., Tahsildar on 05.10.1979 had found

the ex-serviceman (respondent No.1) eligible for allotment of

the land. Therefore, subsequently another officer of the

Government viz., Joint Collector, after a period of 27 years i.e.,

on 16.02.2006, could not have held that the ex-serviceman

(respondent No.1) is not entitled to allotment of the land, that

too, without adverting to the documents annexed by the ex-

serviceman (respondent No.1) in support of his claim namely

(1) Ex-serviceman certificate dated 27.07.1982; (2) certificate

of service; (2) Allotment letter of the land

dated 25.11.1975; (3) Certificate of service; (4) Pension

certificate; (5) revenue receipts of the land for the

years 1964-65 to 1990-91; (6) proceedings of JCLCS dated

08.04.1976; (7) letter of the Zilla Sainik Board dated

16.04.1982; and (8) Notification of the Tahsildar, Medchal

dated 05.10.1979. It is also pertinent to note that notification

dated 05.10.1979 was not even adverted to by the Joint

Collector. The notification dated 05.10.1979 issued on ::14::

instructions of the State Government binds it, as well as its

officers.

11. Before proceeding further, it is apposite to take note of

the findings recorded by the learned Single Judge in para 43 of

the order, which reads as under:

Nowhere in the counter-affidavit, the respondents doubted the correctness of the certificate dt.27.07.1982 issued by the Zilla Sainik Board certifying that the petitioner is an ex-serviceman or the land cess receipts filed by petitioner for the years 1964-65 to 1990-91, or proceedings dt.05.10.1979 in Reference No.B6/195/76 issued by the Tahsildar, Medchal Taluq, or the proceedings dt.30.08.1982 in letter No.B1/195/76 of the Tahsildar, Medchal Taluq, addressed to the Joint Collector, Ranga Reddy District, showing the petitioner in possession of the land admeasuring Acs.5.00 in Survey No.700 of Jawaharnagar Village and certifying his eligibility for assignment of the land. Though these documents were produced both before the Mandal Revenue Officer as well as the Joint Collector at the time when the former submitted ::15::