Dismissed

P. Krishna Murthy ( Died) as per L.R. Dt. 1.8.2004. v. Panuganti Laxmamma

Telangana HC20 Sept 2012WP/10280/2002

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The High Court dismissed a writ petition seeking certiorari to quash an order rectifying revenue record entries. The Court held that where succession rights are disputed, the Civil Court is the appropriate forum, making no jurisdictional error in the authority’s order.

What did the court decide?

The writ petition was dismissed; the interim suspension order was vacated.

P. Krishna Murthy ( Died) as per L.R. Dt. 1.8.2004. Vs… — Property and Title | Telangana HC (2012)

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HON’BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE SRI PINAKI CHANDRA GHOSE

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WRIT PETITION No.10280 OF 2002

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20^th September, 2012

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Between:

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Panuganti Krishna Murthy, Died per LRs. … Petitioners And

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Panuganti Laxmamma and others. … Respondents

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HON’BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE SRI PINAKI CHANDRA GHOSE

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WRIT PETITION No.10280 OF 2002

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JUDGMENT: (per the Hon’ble the Acting Chief Justice)

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This writ petition is filed for a writ of certiorari to quash the order

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dated 24.4.2002 passed by the Joint Collector, Nalgonda District, second respondent herein, in File No.C3/27988/2000 under Section 9 of the Andhra Pradesh Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971 (for brevity, ‘the ROR Act’).

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2) The parties herein are related to each other. As per the genealogical tree filed by the parties, the original petitioner Panuganti Krishna Murthy is the second son of late Panuganti Ayyanna and Panuganti Laxmamma. The first son Venkaiah predeceased his father prior to 1950 issueless. His wife Panuganti Laxmamma, who is surviving now, is the first respondent herein. Panuganti Ayyanna died some time in 1960 or 1961. His wife Panuganti Laxmamma died in 1970. After the death of the original petitioner, Panuganti Krishna Murthy, his second son, P. Dhananjaya got impleaded as petitioner No.2, whereas the first son P. Yadagiri is impleaded as respondent No.3, and the daughters of Krishna Murthy are impleaded as respondent Nos.4, 5 and 6.

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3) It is the case of the original petitioner Panuganti Krishna Murthy that after the death of his father Ayyanna, he succeeded to the property left by his father as sole surviving legal heir, i.e. agricultural lands admeasuring Ac.12.24 gts. in Sy.No.65 and Ac.14.01 gts. in Sy.No.274/1 & 2 of Azampur Village, P.A. Pally Mandal, Nalgonda District. His name was mutated in the revenue records in the year 1964-65 and ever since then his name is appearing in the revenue records as pattadar, owner and possessor. His possession and enjoyment were never questioned by the first respondent so also the entries in the revenue records and he was enjoying the property to the exclusion of the first respondent.

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4) It is the further case of petitioner Krishna Murthy that as owner and exclusive possessor of the above mentioned properties, he settled Ac.14.01 gts. in Sy.No.274/1 & 2 in favour of his three daughters absolutely in equal shares by way of a common gift settlement deed and registered the same vide document No.530/1995, dated 2.3.1995.

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Subsequently, the donees sold their respective holdings by separate registered sale deeds to one V. Vishnu Rao, who is in possession of the said lands. The remaining extent of land admeasuring Ac.12.25 gts. in Sy.No.65 is continued to be in the possession of Krishna Murthy.

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5) According to the petitioners, prior to the enactment of Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the first respondent, who is the wife of his deceased brother, did not have any right in the property left by his father and he only succeeded to the entire estate of his father and that the first respondent has no subsisting interest or title over the same. 6) While the matter stood thus, the first respondent had filed a revision under Section 9 of the ROR Act before the Joint Collector, Nalgonga District, against the entries made in the revenue records. The Joint Collector allowed the revision directing the Mandal Revenue Officer, P.A. Pally to record the names of Panuganti Krishna Murthy (original petitioner herein), Panuganti Laxmamma, wife of late Venkaiah (respondent No.1 herein) and Panuganti Lachamma, wife of Ayyanna with equal share from 1963-64 onwards, and since Panuganti Lachamma died, her share should be mutated in the names of the original petitioner and respondent No.1 herein equally.

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7) The Joint Collector observed that after the death of Panuganti Ayyanna (father of the original petitioner herein), the lands were mutated in the names of his legal heirs namely, Panuganti Krishna Murthy, Panuganti Laxmamma and Panuganti Lachamma, by way of succession through Faisal Patti for the year 1963-64, but in the subsequent revenue records, the name of the original petitioner herein was only recorded for the entire lands, and the then Village Officer did not record the name of the first respondent herein in the subsequent records. On going through the records, the Joint Collector observed that the original petitioner herein filed a declaration in a land ceiling case in which he admitted that the first respondent is the half shareholder in the lands of late Ayyanna, and since the wife of

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Ayyanna died, the first respondent is entitled to half share in the property left by him. Accordingly, the Joint Collector directed to rectify the entries in the revenue records. Aggrieved by the same, the present writ petition.

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8) Respondent Nos.3 and 4, who are the son and daughter respectively of petitioner Krishna Murthy, and who were brought on record after the death of their father, have filed counter affidavits denying the petition averments.

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9) Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the impugned order was passed without giving reasonable opportunity to the petitioners as contemplated in the rules made under the ROR Act. The impugned order was passed without notice to all the interested persons i.e. transferees of the original petitioner. Despite serious dispute about the title, the Joint Collector recorded a finding and divided the property and ordered mutation by assuming the powers of a civil court without giving an opportunity to the petitioners. Under the guise of the impugned order, the officials of the second respondent are proposing to rectify the entries in the revenue records, and if the name of the first respondent is recorded, it will lead to multiplicity of proceedings.

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10) Learned counsel further submits that the first respondent could not have filed revision under Section 9 of the ROR Act, when according to sub-section (2) of Section 8 of the said Act, she has to file a suit for declaration of her right to share in the property left by Ayyanna. Learned counsel, therefore, submits that the Joint Collector has no jurisdiction to order mutation when there is a serious dispute about the succession and the impugned order is illegal, and accordingly prays for quashing the same.

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11) It is further submitted by the learned counsel that mere entry for one year in the Faisal Patti does not confer any title in the first respondent in the absence of her title known to law. The said entry cannot deprive the vested right of the original petitioner , who alone

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is entitled to succeed to the estate of Ayyanna. Any admission in the land ceiling proceedings has no bearing on common law rights and it is limited for the said proceedings and will not take away the vested right of the parties. Prior to the enactment of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act, 1937 was in force in the erstwhile Hyderabad State, according to which the first respondent has neither limited interest nor could succeed to the estate of Ayyanna, and, therefore, the question of applicability of Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act does not arise.

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12) Learned counsel for respondent No.4 has supported the arguments made by the learned counsel for the petitioners. 13) Learned counsel appearing for respondent No.3 submits that the impugned order does not suffer from any jurisdictional error. He submits that the original petitioner got manipulated the revenue records to defeat the legitimate rights of the first respondent and his own mother and the Joint Collector rectified the said illegal entries by passing the impugned order under Section 9 of the ROR Act. He further submits that having submitted a declaration in the land ceiling proceedings, the original petitioner is estopped from agitating the rights of the first respondent. As the status of the first respondent as the wife of Panuganti Venkaiah (eldest son of Ayyanna) is not disputed, her right in the property through her deceased husband has to be accepted by operation of law.

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14) The learned counsel further submitted that the principles governing writ of certiorari are well settled. By medium of the present writ petition, the petitioners are asking this Court to adjudicate the well considered order passed by the Joint Collector by assuming the appellate jurisdiction. Placing reliance on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Syed Yakoob v. K.S. Radhakrishnan^[1] .

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15) Learned counsel for respondent No.1 has supported the arguments made on behalf of respondent No.3. 16) Now the question that falls for consideration is whether the

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impugned order suffers from any jurisdictional error which needs to be corrected by this Court.

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16) The parameters for exercise of High Court’s power to issue a writ of certiorari are well defined. Such writ, order or

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direction can be issued for correcting errors of jurisdiction committed by inferior courts or tribunals or quasi-judicial authorities. A writ can also be issued where, in exercise of jurisdiction conferred on it, the Court or the Tribunal or quasi-judicial authority acts illegally or improperly, i.e., it decides a question without giving an opportunity of hearing to the

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party affected by the order or where the procedure adopted by it is opposed to the principles of natural justice. However, it must be remembered that the jurisdiction of the High Court to issue a writ of certiorari is supervisory in nature and not appellate one. This necessarily means that the finding of fact reached by the inferior Court, Tribunal etc., as a result of the appreciation of evidence, cannot be reopened or questioned in writ proceedings except when the judgment, order or award suffers from an error of law apparent on the face of the record. An error of law is one which can be discovered on a bare reading of the judgment, order or award under challenge along with the documents which have been relied upon by the inferior Court, Tribunal or quasi-judicial authority. An error, the discovery of which is possible only after a detailed scrutiny of the evidence produced by the parties and lengthy debate at the bar cannot be regarded as an error of law for the purpose of a writ of certiorari. A finding of fact recorded by an inferior Court or Tribunal or quasi-judicial authority can be corrected only if it is shown that in recording the said finding, the Court etc., had erroneously admitted inadmissible evidence and the same has influenced the impugned finding. Similarly, a finding of fact based on no evidence would be regarded as error of law which can be corrected by issuing a writ of certiorari. However, sufficiency or adequacy of the evidence relied upon by the inferior Court of Tribunal or quasi-judicial

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authority cannot be gone into by the High Court while considering the prayer for issue of a writ of certiorari. Likewise, mere possibility of forming a different opinion on re-appreciation of evidence produced by the parties is not sufficient for issue of a writ of certiorari – Syed Yakoob v. K.S. Radhakrishnan, Shaik Mahammad Umarsaheb v. Kadalaskar Hasham Karimsab^[2] , R.S. Saini v. State of Punjab^[3] , Mohd. Shahnawaz Akhtar v. I ADJ Varanasi & ors .^[4] and Surya Dev Rai v. Ram Chander Rai^[5] .

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17) Keeping the above principles in mind, I proceed to examine the case on hand. As noticed above, the parties herein are agnates of late Ayyanna, who possessed the lands in question. As it appears from the record, after the death of Ayyanna, originally, the names of his son Krishna Murthy, daughter-in-law Laxmamma and wife Lachamma were recorded in the revenue records for the year 1963-64. However, in the subsequent records, the name of Laxmamma, first respondent herein, was not recorded and the reasons therefor are not forthcoming. On a revision filed by the first respondent, the Joint Collector, after examining the record, held that the first respondent is the half shareholder and accordingly directed to rectify the entries in the revenue records. If the petitioners are so aggrieved by such rectification, according to Section 8(2) of the ROR Act, their remedy is to approach a civil court of competent jurisdiction seeking a declaration of such right, and they cannot agitate the same in a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India (See Musku

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Mallaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh^[6] ) . Further, according to the original petitioner, third party interests are also created, and necessarily it requires adjudication of the rights of the original petitioner vis-à-vis the legal heirs of late Ayyanna, which, in my view, can be appropriately gone into by a civil court.

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18) In that view of the matter, I do not find any jurisdictional error in the impugned order warranting interference in exercise of

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extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. 19) The writ petition is accordingly dismissed. No costs. The order of interim suspension granted by this Court on 11.6.2002 stands vacated.

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___________________________ PINAKI CHANDRA GHOSE, ACJ

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20^th September, 2012.

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ARS

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