APHC010645382023 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH THURSDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY SIX THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE TARLADA RAJASEKHAR RAO WRIT PETITION No. 33242/2023 BETWEEN: 1. DUGGI REDDEMMA, W/o. LATE DUGGI MALLESH, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, OCC: AGRICULTURE, RESIDENT OF MOORAMUTLAPALLI VILLAGE, PULLAMPETA MANDAL, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT. 1. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, REP., BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, REVENUE DEPARTMENT, SECRETARIAT BUILDINGS, VELAGAPUDI, AMARAVATHI, GUNTUR DISTRICT. 2. THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, ANNNAMAYYADISTRICT, RAYACHOTY. 3. THE REVENUE REVENUE DIVISION, RAJAMPETA, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT. 4. THE TAHSILDAR, PULLAMPETA MANDAL, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT 5. MUDDALURI SAI KIRAN RAJU, S/o. RAJAMOHAN RAJU, AGED ABOUT 29 YEARS, OCC AGRICULTURE, RESIDING AT D.NO.7/13, GANGIREDDYPALEM STREET, RAJAMPETA TOWN AND MANDAL, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT. 6. KONDURU BHARGAV RAJU, S/o. RAGHU RAMA RAJU, AGED ABOUT 22 YEARS, RESIDING AT D.NO.1/11 A,RUVVALAMADUGU VILLAGE, ANNAMA Reserved on Pronounced on Uploaded on IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY SIX PRESENT HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE TARLADA RAJASEKHAR RAO WRIT PETITION No. 33242/2023 DUGGI REDDEMMA, W/o. LATE DUGGI MALLESH, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, OCC: AGRICULTURE, RESIDENT OF MOORAMUTLAPALLI VILLAGE, PULLAMPETA MANDAL, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT. ...PETITIONER AND THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, REP., BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, REVENUE DEPARTMENT, SECRETARIAT BUILDINGS, VELAGAPUDI, AMARAVATHI, GUNTUR THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, ANNNAMAYYADISTRICT, THE REVENUE DIVISIONAL OFFICER, RAJEMPETA REVENUE DIVISION, RAJAMPETA, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT. THE TAHSILDAR, PULLAMPETA MANDAL, ANNAMAYYA MUDDALURI SAI KIRAN RAJU, S/o. RAJAMOHAN RAJU, ABOUT 29 YEARS, OCC AGRICULTURE, RESIDING AT D.NO.7/13, GANGIREDDYPALEM STREET, RAJAMPETA TOWN AND MANDAL, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT. KONDURU BHARGAV RAJU, S/o. RAGHU RAMA RAJU, AGED ABOUT 22 YEARS, RESIDING AT D.NO.1/11 A,RUVVALAMADUGU VILLAGE, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT. ...RESPONDENT(S): : 26.02.2026 Pronounced on : 05.03.2026 : 10.03.2026 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH [3330] HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE TARLADA RAJASEKHAR RAO DUGGI REDDEMMA, W/o. LATE DUGGI MALLESH, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, OCC: AGRICULTURE, RESIDENT OF MOORAMUTLAPALLI VILLAGE, PULLAMPETA MANDAL, ...PETITIONER THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, REP., BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, REVENUE DEPARTMENT, SECRETARIAT BUILDINGS, VELAGAPUDI, AMARAVATHI, GUNTUR THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, ANNNAMAYYADISTRICT, DIVISIONAL OFFICER, RAJEMPETA REVENUE DIVISION, RAJAMPETA, ANNAMAYYA DISTRICT. THE TAHSILDAR, PULLAMPETA MANDAL, ANNAMAYYA MUDDALURI SAI KIRAN RAJU, S/o. RAJAMOHAN RAJU, ABOUT 29 YEARS, OCC AGRICULTURE, RESIDING AT D.NO.7/13, GANGIREDDYPALEM STREET, RAJAMPETA KONDURU BHARGAV RAJU, S/o. RAGHU RAMA RAJU, AGED ABOUT 22 YEARS, RESIDING AT D.NO.1/11 YYA DISTRICT. ...RESPONDENT(S): 2 Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondent No.4 in updation of the On line Revenue Records for the land in an extent of Ac. 1.38 cents in Sy.No.30-1 of Sri Rangarajupalem Village, Pullampeta Mandal, Annamayya District, in favour of the respondents No.5 and 6, eventhough, the manual revenue records are stand on the name of the petitioner, that too without putting her on notice as arbitrary, illegal, colourable exercise of power and contrary to the procedure envisaged under the provisions of the AP Rights in Land and Pattadhar Passbooks Act, 1971 and the AP Rights in Land and Pattadhar Pass Books Rule, 1989 and also the well established legal principles apart from being violative of the fundamental and constitutional rights guaranteed to her under articles 14, 19, 21 and 300A of the Constitution of India and consequently set aside the same and pass such other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner: 1. V R REDDY KOVVURI Counsel for the Respondent(S): 1. GP FOR REVENUE 2. NAVULURU KRISHNA SAI The Court made the following: 3 ORDER: The present Writ Petition is filed to declare the action of the respondent No.4 in updating the online revenue records for the land in an extent of Ac.1-38 cents in Survey No.30-1 of Sri Rangarajupalem village, Pullampeta Mandal, Annamayya District, without putting any notice to the petitioner, as arbitrary, illegal and in violation of principles of natural justice and it is also contrary to the procedure envisaged under the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971 (for short hereinafter called as Act) and also contrary to the Andhra Pradesh Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Rules, 1989 (for short hereinafter called as Rules), consequently prayed to restore the name of the petitioner herein in the revenue records. 2. It is the pleading of the petitioner in the affidavit filed in support of the Writ Petition that they are the owners and possessors of the subject land and in the enjoyment of the same from the year 1961 and the Tahsildar shall determine as to whether, and if so in what manner, the record of rights may be amended and in consequence thereof and shall carryout the amendment in the record of rights in accordance with such determination. In the event of Tahsildar unable to determine the rights, under sub-Section 1 of Section 5 of the Act, he has to refer the matter to the Revenue Divisional Officer. And it is also further stated that the 4 petitioner is in the possession of the property and they are growing mango tope in the subject land of the writ petition. 3. It is further stated that the procedure envisaged under Rules 18 to 20 of the A.P. Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Rules, 1989, for the rectification, preparation, and updating of the Record of Rights was not followed, and the 4th respondent (Tahsildar) deviated from the procedure contemplated under the said rules. Furthermore, it is contended that the unofficial respondents (Nos. 5 and 6), based on the illegal updation of the online revenue records in their favour, are contemplating the creation of third-party rights over the subject land. It is alleged that the 4th respondent failed to issue notice to the writ petitioner prior to amending the names of the unofficial respondents, rendering such action in violation of the principles of natural justice. As such, the petitioner is constrained to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the redressal of their grievances 4. Heard Sri V.R. Reddy Kovvuri, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Navuluru Krishna Sai, learned counsel for the unofficial respondent Nos.5 and 6 and learned Assistant Government Pleader for official respondents. 5 5. The unofficial respondents Nos. 5 and 6 filed their counter affidavit, asserting that the land measuring Ac. 1.38 in survey No. 30-1 of Sri Rangarajupalem village, Pullampeta Mandal, Annamayya District, originally belonged to Sri Narayana Raju, S/o Obul Raju. He sold the property to Sri Macha Nagaiah, the father of the petitioner, through an unregistered sale deed dated 04.05.1961 and his father has executed the unregistered gift deed in favour of the Writ Petitioner herein on 23.01.1995, which does not convey any right or title over the property as per the provisions of the Transfer of Property Act and Stamps and Registration Act. The documents which are relied upon by the writ petitioner are liable to be registered, in the absence of the registration, the documents relied upon by the writ petitioner does not have sanctity in the eye of law and the documents are treated to be void ab into documents and it is settled position of law that any pleading must be supported by documentary evidence and in the absence of the documentary evidence, ipso facto presumed to be false. Further stated that one Mr. Dommaraju Obulraju is the absolute owner, title holder, of the subject property and his name was reflected in the revenue records to and after his death, his son inherited the property. Accordingly, the then Tahsildar incorporated the entries in the revenue records in the name of Dommaraju Obulraju, the said Dommaraju Obulraju wanted to dispose of the property for his family necessities and sold the properties 6 executing two separate documents for two equal shares in Survey No. 3 (document No. 3421 of 2020 and document No. 34201 of 2020) to the vendors of the unofficial respondents. Subsequently, the vendors have sold the property to the ancestors of the unofficial respondents. Thus, the unofficial respondents have become the owners admeasuring to an extent of Ac.1.38 cents in Sy.No.30-1. 6. Pursuant to the registered sale deeds obtained by the unofficial respondents, they have approached respondent No.4 and made an application to update the entries in revenue records and to mutate their names in the online revenue records requesting to issue pattadar passbooks and title deeds for the land. The respondent No.4-Tahsildar, after following due process of law, entered and updated the names of the unofficial respondents in the revenue records. Since then, they have been enjoying the properties by raising the crops and eking out of their livelihood. 7. It is further stated that the petitioner's name has never been recorded in the revenue records, and therefore, there is no requirement to issue notice to the petitioners since their names are not reflected or updated in these records. The name of the original owner, Dommaraju Obulraju, has been updated and is reflected in the revenue records. Therefore, the contention raised by the petitioner without issuing any 7 notice, updation does not constitute a violation of the principles of natural justice nor does it breach the provisions of the Act and Rules. 8. And also relied on the judgment in the case of Konkana Ravinder Goud and others v. Bhavanarishi Co-operative House Building Society a Division Bench of the common High Court at Hyderabad relying on Narandas Karsondas v. S.M. Kamtam held that a contract of sale in view of Section 54 of Transfer of Property Act does not by itself create any interest in or charge on the property. It is only on registration of such completed contract under the provisions of the Registration Act that title passes in the property. Agreement of sale does not convey any right title or interest in the property. In the present case, the writ petitioner is the agreement holder and it does not transfer to the petitioner unless it is registered under Section 17(b)(ii) of the Registration Act and the right under Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act, only on the registration of the document. And it further stated that a suit for permanent injunction was filed pending suit the trial court has granted temporary injunction till disposal of the suit. 9. Point for consideration: It is imperative to take review of the relevant provisions governing the issue. Definition of pattadar under Sec 2 (6)(a)” “pattadar “ includes every person who holds [agricultural] land directly under the 8 Government under a patta or whose name is registered in the land revenue accounts of the Government as pattadar and who is liable to pay land revenue; 3. Preparation and maintenance of record of rights in all lands - (1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act in any area, there shall be [prepared and brought up-to-date, from time to time, by the Recording Authority] in such manner, and thereafter maintained in such form, as may be prescribed, a record of rights in all lands in every village in that area and such record of rights shall contain the following particulars, namely:- (a) the names of all persons who are owners, pattadars, mortgagees, occupants or tenants of the lands; (b) the nature and extent of the respective rights or interests of such persons and the conditions or liabilities, if any, attaching thereto; (c) the rent, revenue or other amount, if any payable by, or to any of such persons; (d) such other particulars as may be prescribed. [Provided that whenever a resurvey/survey is conducted in a village under the Andhra Pradesh Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923, the Record of Rights in all lands in that Village shall be updated as per the resurvey/survey records prepared under the Andhra Pradesh Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923(Act No.VIII of 1923.] (2) When in respect of any village the preparation of the record of rights referred to in sub-section (1) is completed, the fact of 9 such completion shall be notified in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette 37[or the District Gazette]and in such other manner as may be prescribed. (3) Any person affected by an entry in such record of rights may, within a period of one year from the date of the notification referred to in sub-section (2), apply for rectification of the entry to such officer as may be prescribed. The said officer may, after such inquiry as may be prescribed, give his decision on such application and direct the rectification of the record of rights in accordance with such decision which shall, subject to the provisions of section 9, be final. Section 4: (1) Any person acquiring by succession, survivorship, in heritance, partition, Government patta, decree of a court or otherwise any right as owner, pattadar, mortgagee, occupant or tenant of a land and any person acquiring any right as occupant of a land by any other method shall intimate in writing his acquisition of such right, to the Mandal Revenue Officer within [thirty days] from the date of such acquisition, and the said Mandal Revenue Officer shall give or send a written acknowledgement of the receipt of such intimation to the person making it. Provided that where the person acquiring the right is a minor or otherwise disqualified, his guardian or other persons, having charge of his property shall intimate the fact of such acquisition to the Mandal Revenue Officer. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Registration Act, 1908, every registering Officer appointed under the Act and registering a document relating to a transaction in land, such as 10 sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise shall intimate the Mandal Revenue Officer of the Mandal in which the property situate of such transaction 41 [electronically by transferring the data to electronically maintained Record of Rights by the Tahasildar.] Explanation-I: The right mentioned above shall include a mortgage without possession and a right determined by civil court. Explanation-II: A person in whose favour a mortgage is discharged or extinguished, or a lease is determined, acquires a right within the meaning of this section.] (3). Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) and (2), the Revenue Officer responsible for preparation of Village Records shall intimate to Tahsildar the acqulation of rights land by any person in his interdiction within fifteen (15) days from the date of knowledge in the format as may be prescribed.] 5. [Amendment and up-dating of record of rights] - (1) On receipt of intimation of the fact of acquisition of any right referred to in section 4, the [Mandal Revenue Officer] shall determine as to whether, and if so in what manner, the record of rights may be amended in consequence thereof and shall carry out the amendment in the record of rights in accordance with such determination: Provided that no order refusing to make an amendment in accordance with the intimation shall be passed unless the person making such intimation has been given an opportunity of making his representation in that behalf. [Provided further that when the registration is approved by the Registering Officer, the name of the claimant shall be mutated 11 in lieu of name of the executants on real time basis provisional in electronically maintained data duly assigning notional subdivision number as may be prescribed pending enquiry by the Tahsildar: Provided also that the provisional mutation shall be confirmed by the Tahsildar electronically by following due procedure under sub-section (3) within thirty days of the registration. The aggrieved person may file an appeal to the Revenue Division Officer within a period of fifteen days from the date of order of the Tahsildar and decision of the appellate authority thereon shall subject to the provisions of section 9 be, final.] (2) Where the recording authority has reason to believe that an acquisition of any right of a description to which section 4 applies has taken place and of which an intimation has not been made to him under that section and where he considers that an amendment has to be effected in the record of rights, the recording authority shall carry out the said amendment in the record of rights. (3) The recording authority shall, before carrying out any amendment in the record of rights under sub-section (1) or sub- section (2) issue a notice in writing to all persons whose names are entered in the record of rights and who are interested in or affected by the amendment and to any other persons whom he has reason to believe to be interested therein or affected thereby to show cause within the period specified therein as to why the amendment should not be carried out. A copy of the amendment and the notice aforesaid shall also be published in such manner as may be prescribed. The recording authority shall consider 12 every objection made in that behalf and after making such enquiry as may be prescribed pass such order in relation thereto as he deems fit. (4) Every order passed under this section shall be communicated to the persons concerned. (5) Against every order of the recording authority either making an amendment in the record of rights or refusing to make such an amendment, an appeal shall lie to such authority as may be prescribed, within a period of sixty days from the date of communication of the said order and the decision of the appellate authority thereon shall, subject to the provisions of section 9, be final. [5-A Regularisation of certain alienations or other transfers of lands:- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, the Registration Act, 1908 or any other law for the time being in force, where the name of any person is recorded as an occupant in the Record of Rights by virtue of an alienation or transfer made or effected otherwise than by registered document, the alienee or the transferee may, within such period as may be prescribed, apply to the Mandal Revenue Officer for a certificate declaring that such alienation or transfer is valid. (2) On receipt of such application, the Mandal Revenue Officer shall, after making such enquiry as may be prescribed require the alienee or the transferee to the deposit in the office of the Mandal Revenue Officer an amount equal to the registration fees and the stamp duty that would have been payable had the alienation or 13 transfer been effected by a registered document to accordance with the provisions of the Registration Act, 1908 as fixed by the registering officer on a reference made to him by the Mandal Revenue Officer on the basis of the value of the property arrived at in such manner as may be prescribed: Provided that the Mandal Revenue Officer shall not require the alienee or the transferee to deposit the amount under this sub-section unless he is satisfied that the alienation or transfer is not in contravention of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973, the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act,1976 the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959 and the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977. (3) Nothing contained in sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall be deemed to validate any alienation where such alienation is in contravention of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973, the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959 and the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977. (4) The Mandal Revenue Officer on deposit of an amount specified in sub-section (2), shall issue a certificate to the alienee or the transferee declaring that the alienation or transfer is valid from the date of issue of certificate and such certificate shall, not with evidence of such alienation or transfer as against the alienor or transferor or any person claiming interest under him. 14 (5) The recording authority, shall on the production of the certificate issued under sub-section (2) make any entry in the pass book to the effect that the person whose name has been recorded as an occupant is the owner of the property.] (6) The Mandal Revenue Officer shall have the power to correct clerical errors, if any, in the Pass Book. 10. In the present case, the writ petitioner has not obtained any regular registered sale deed to claim right title of the property. The section 17 of the Registration Act that outlines that the documents that have to be compulsorily registered. From a reading of Section 17(1)(b), it is clear that a sale deed is to be registered compulsorily. Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act makes it clear that a sale deed exceeding of sum of Rs.100/- can only be effected by a registered document. A combined reading of these two provisions, it would clearly show that a deed under which there is a transfer of ownership in exchange for consideration and such consideration is over a sum of Rs.100/-, under Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act clearly provides that the same can only be done by a registered instrument. The name of the petitioner has not been reflected in the revenue records or in online and the only name of the original owner i.e. Dommaraju Obulraju is reflected in the revenue records. As a result, record of right (RoR) stand amended and reflected the names of the unofficial respondents. 15 11. Applying the provisions of the A.P. Rights in Land Pattadar Passbooks Act 1971 the Tahsildar is able to update or register names in the revenue records or E records only after verifying the right through succession, survivorship, inheritance, partition, government patta, court decree, or any other ownership rights as an owner, pattadar, mortgagee, occupant, or tenant of the land. The petitioner claiming title, on an unregistered sale deed that does not confer any right to the property, nor does the petitioner hold land directly from the government as a pattadar. Even if the petitioner's name appears in the pattadar passbook or online revenue records, this is inconsistent with the provisions of the Act. The petitioner has not acquired any legal right to the property. Furthermore, according to the respondents, the pattadar passbooks filed along with the writ petition are forged and thus legally invalid, even assuming that if the pattadar passbooks were not forged, they were not issued upon any acquisition of rights, and these particular books were issued contrary to the provisions of the Act. Since the Act stipulates that pattadar passbooks must be issued to the rightful owner of the property, the revenue official cannot issue in contravention of the Act; hence, they are non-est in the eye of the law. Furthermore, the petitioner has not regularized the land by applying to the Mandal Revenue Officer for a certificate that validates such an alienation or transfer. Therefore, the petitioner cannot voice that the mutation of 16 names of the unofficial respondents violates the principles of natural justice, especially since the unofficial respondents purchased the property from their vendor through registered documents in the year 2020 vide document No. 3421 of 2020 and document No. 3420 of 2020 and their names have been recorded in the revenue record. The writ petitioner is not having any right or title over the property to claim against the unofficial respondents, he should possess a semblance of right, and in the absence thereof, he cannot seek any relief before this Court to delete the name of unofficial respondent and restore the name of the petitioner, for violation of natural justice. Hence for the above exposition, the Court has not seen any merit in the Writ Petition. 12. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. As a sequel, interlocutory applications, if any, pending in this writ petition shall stand closed. __________________________________ JUSTICE TARLADA RAJASEKHAR RAO Date: 05.03.2026 Harin 17 6 THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE TARLADA RAJASEKHAR RAO W.P.No. 33242 OF 2023 Date: 05-03-2026 Harin