TMI Blog2006 (3) TMI 727X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . From the materials on record, it appears that the said Uppari Ramaiah purchased 14 acres and 6 guntas of land from Kaneez Fatima Begum under a sale deed dated 1st May, 1961 for a consideration of ₹ 13,000/- and obtained a certificate in respect thereof under Section 38E of the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the Tenancy Act of 1950 ) from the Revenue Divisional Officer, Hyderabad, West. Prior to execution of the said deed, Uppari Ramaiah is purported to have sold an extent of 20,086 square yards from out of the total area measuring 14 acres and 6 guntas to one Mir Riyasat Ali by a sale deed dated 8th February, 1961. Out of the said 20,086 square yards, the said Mir Riyasat Ali sold 8,866 square yards to Smt. P. Neelakanteswaramma and to one Chandra Ramalingaiah by a sale deed dated 21st November, 1961. Their names were duly mutated in the Town Survey Registers and in the Revenue Records. On the death of Chandra Ramalingaiah on 7th February, 1973, his share in the land devolved on his legal heirs, namely, his widow, Chandra Suryamba, and his two daughters, C. Raja Kumari and P. Sandhya Kumari and son Chand ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sband of respondent no.1 and the father of respondent Nos. 2 to 10, was a protected tenant of Smt. Kaneez Fatima Begum in respect of the disputed lands covered by Survey Nos. 65 to 74 of Yousufguda village and that he had purchased the said lands from Kaneez Fatima Begum by a registered sale deed dated 1st May, 1961 for a sum of ₹ 13,000/-. It was further contended that the applicants had falsely stated that they had purchased the said lands from Mir Riyasat Ali by sale deed dated 21st November, 1961. The lands in question were agricultural lands and were referred to as such in the revenue records in terms of acres and guntas and the transaction entered into by Mir Riyasat Ali with Uppari Ramaiah was effected with the intention of avoiding having to obtain formal permission from the Tahasildar under Section 47 of the Tenancy Act of 1950 for transfer of the said lands. The specific case made out in the counter filed by respondent nos. 1 to 10 was that the sale deed executed by Uppari Ramaiah in favour of Mir Riyasat Ali was fraudulent as would be evident from the fact that the same had been executed even before Uppari Ramaiah acquired full title to the properties from Kaneez ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ons had joined Mir Riyasat Ali and K.Satyanarayana in the conveyance executed in favour of the Cooperative Group Housing Society, the learned Special Judge came to the conclusion that by their actions it must be held that the said respondents were land grabbers. The learned Special Judge accordingly proceeded to declare the respondent Nos. 1 to 17 before him as land grabbers within the meaning of the A.P. Land Grabbing Act, 1982 and directed that criminal proceedings be commenced against them for offences punishable under Sections 4 and 5 of the said Act. The heirs of Uppari Ramaiah filed a writ petition before the Andhra Pradesh High Court, being W.P.No.4991/1990, against the aforesaid judgment and order of the learned Judge. Another writ petition, being W.P.No.4026/1990, was filed by N. Srinivasa Rao, to whom a General Power of Attorney had been given by the heirs of Uppari Ramaiah, and since they arose out of a common judgment, they were heard together and disposed of by a common order dated 11th July, 1997. The High Court reversed the findings of the learned Special Judge upon holding that the sales effected by Kaneez Fatima Begum in favour of Uppari Ramaiah on 1st May, 1961 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inivasa Rao against the said order of the Hon'ble High Court dismissing his application for clarification. P. Neelakanteswaramma also challenged the orders passed by the High Court in the two writ applications, in the Review Petition in W.P.No.4991/1990 and Miscellaneous Petition filed by N. Srinivasa Rao in W.P.No.4026/1990 in the four Civil Appeals, C.A.Nos. 4529-4532/1999. All the aforesaid appeals have been taken up together for hearing and are being disposed of by this common judgment. Appearing for the appellants in Civil Appeal Nos. 4529- 4532 of 1999, Mr. K. Parasaran, learned senior advocate, took us through the provisions of the Land Grabbing Act, 1982, wherein the expression land grabbing has been defined in Section 2 (e) of the aforesaid Act as follows:- 2(e) land grabbing means every activity of grabbling of any land (whether belonging to the Government, a local authority, a religious or charitable institution or endowment, including a wakf, or any other private person) by a person or group of persons, without any lawful entitlement and with a view to illegally taking possession of such lands, or enter into or create illegal tenancies or lease and licences agr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s on the site in question. Another decision of this Court on which a good deal of reliance was placed by Mr. Parasaran was in the case of Sarifabibi Mohmed Ibrahim (Smt.) And Ors. vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, Gujarat, 1993 Supp.(4) SCC 707, wherein the assessee-appellants as co-owners of a piece of land sold it to a Group Housing Society. A reference under Section 256(1) of the Income Tax Act was made to the Gujarat High Court as to whether that land was agricultural land within the meaning of Section 2 (14) of the Income Tax Act for the purpose of tax on capital gains. The reference was answered by the High Court in favour of the Revenue and in appeal this Court affirmed the view taken by the High Court upon holding that whether a land is agricultural land or not is essentially a question of fact. Several tests have been evolved in the decisions of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, but all of them are more or less in the nature of guidelines. The question has to be answered in each case having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case. It was observed that an inference has to be drawn on a cumulative consideration of all the relevant facts. It was suggested o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, if he had taken the transfer for consideration and on the faith of the representation. The decision already referred to hereinbefore in the case of Ram Pyare (supra) echo the sentiments in the aforesaid Jumma Masjid case. In applying the provisions of Section 43 of the aforesaid Act in respect of the sale deed executed by a tenure holder, an alternative argument was advanced to the effect that even if the sale deeds executed by Uppari Ramaiah in favour of Mir Riyasat Ali and Kaneez Fatima Begum in favour of Uppari Ramaiah should be held to be void on account of non- compliance with the provisions of Section 47 of the Tenancy Act of 1950, it could not be denied that Mir Riyasat Ali continued to be in possession of the lands as conveyed in his favour by Uppari Ramaiah from 1961 till 1982, during which period not only did Uppari Ramaiah and his legal heirs acquiesce in Mir Riyasat Ali's title to the said land, but they did not also take any steps to challenge such title or to initiate eviction proceedings against Mir Riyasat Ali under Section 98 of the said Act. It was submitted that, as had been found by the learned Special Judge, the misc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e land grabbers within the meaning of the aforesaid Act. It was also submitted that the purported sale deed executed by Uppari Ramaiah in favour of Mir Riyasat Ali on 8th February, 1961 was contrary to the concept of protected tenancy envisaged under the Tenancy Act of 1950 Act. In the event the recitals in the deed executed by Mir Riyasat Ali on 21st November, 1961, in favour of Chandra Ramalingaiah and P. Neelakanteswaramma are to be accepted, then, Uppari Ramaiah had only a protected tenancy in the lands in question which he could not have conveyed to Mir Riyasat Ali on 8th February, 1961, without the prior sanction of the Tahsildar under Section 47 of the Tenancy Act of 1950 which otherwise bars transfers in favour of non-agriculturists under Section 49 of the aforesaid Act. Mr.Venugopal submitted that since the A.P. Land Grabbing Act, 1982 provides for penal consequences, including imprisonment under Sections 4 and 5 of the said Act, and against which no appeal has been provided, the High Court was entitled to question the decision-making process of the Special Court in exercise of its powers under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India. It was submitted that t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and in question. It was urged that the prohibition contained in Section 47 of the Tenancy Act of 1950 could not be circumvented and/or defeated in the fraudulent manner in which it had been done. Mr. Venugopal, submitted that the said principle had been considered by this Court in the case of Kartar Singh (dead) by Lrs. And Ors. vs. Harbanskaur (Smt.) (1994) 4 SCC 730, wherein it was held that the rule of estoppel by deed by transferor would apply only when the transferee is misled. Where the transferee knows for a fact that the transferor does not possess the title which he represents, then he cannot be said to have acted on such representation in taking a transfer. Section 43 then would have no application and the transfer would fall under Section 6(1) of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. According to Mr. Venugopal it was well within the knowledge of the parties that Uppari Ramaiah was only a protected tenant under Kaneez Fatima Begum. The sale deed executed by Uppari Ramaiah in favour of Mir Riyasat Ali as such protected tenant was hit by the provisions not only of Section 47 but also by Section 49 of the Tenancy Act of 1950. Apart from the above, there is also no pleadi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6 which allegedly obstructed the appellant's right to work out his civil rights in respect of the property. It was urged that the learned Special Judge was only required to adjudicate on the question as to whether the opposite parties had acted in a manner in respect of the lands in question which would attract the provisions of the A.P.Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 1982. In his brief reply Mr. Parasaran contended that not all acts done contrary to any statutory provision are always void but in some cases voidable and if a voidable act is not avoided within a reasonable time, parties are subsequently precluded from challenging the same. He also attempted to show that fraud had not been pleaded by the appellant which would take out the matter from the ambit of Section 43 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. Referring once again to Kartar Singh's case (supra), Mr. Parasaran tried to convince us that in the said decision nothing different to what had been held in the Jumma Masjid's case (supra) had been indicated. Although, the facts involved in these appeals necessitated lengthy submissions, the scope and ambit thereof is limited. The main issue which sur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... any land by a tenant or assignment of any interest held by him therein. The Preamble to the Act provides that it was expedient inter alia to amend the law regulating the relations of landlords and tenants of agricultural lands and the alienation of such lands and to enable the land holders to prevent excessive sub-division of agricultural holdings. In our view, in a proceeding before the Special Court the only issue which fall for decision is whether there has been an act of land grabbing as alleged and who is the guilty party. The Special Court has no jurisdiction to decide questions relating to acquisition of title by adverse possession in a proceeding under the Act as the same would fall within the domain of the civil courts. The learned Special Judge apparently traveled beyond the jurisdiction vested in him under the 1982 Act in deciding that even if the provisions of Section 47 of the Act was a bar to transfer without the sanction of the Tahsildar, the occupants of the land had perfected their title thereto by way of adverse possession. Even on the question of the applicability of Section 43 of the Transfer of Property Act, we agree with the view taken by the High Court that w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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