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(ii) and (in). Whether the land purchased by the petitioner-Society is not covered by the provisions of ROR Act, and what is the effect of the provisions of ULC Act by reason of inclusion of Kapra villge in the master plan prepared under the A.P. Urban Areas Act?

43. Section 2(4) of ROR Act defines "land" as meaning land which is used or is capable of being used for the purpose of agriculture, including horticulture, but it does not include the land used exclusively for non-agricultural purposes. The definition has inclusive part and exclusive part. All the lands which are exclusively used for non-agricultural purposes are alone excluded from the definition, and all other lands are included within the definition of the word "land". The Joint Collector observed that the petitioner purchased the land under agreement of sale exclusively for non-agricultural purposes, and therefore, it ceased to be agricultural land. Such an approach is not warranted for it is admitted that the petitioner-Society has approached the Government in 1995 when a notification was published for the change of land use. This clichingly shows that right from 1982 to 1995 when the Government issued notification under the ULC Act, the land was capable of being used for agriculture and only in 1995 its use was changed. This aspect of the matter was totally ignored by the 1st respondent as rightly contended by the learned senior Counsel for the petitioner. The Government published the notification in the Gazette on 26-6-1995 under Section 12(1) of the Urban Areas Development Act agreeing to permit the change of land use from conservation use zone in the zonal development plan in non-municipal area to residential use zone. Even the said notification is a draft notification and the same in the absence of final notification does not, in any way, for the present change the nature of the land in question.

45. The term "Master Plan" is defined in Section 2(h) of the ULC Act to mean plan prepared under any law for the time being in force for the development of such area or part thereof and providing for the stages by which such development shall be carried out. Section 2(n) defines "Urban Agglomeration" to mean any area specified in corresponding entry in Column 2 of Scheduled I of the ULC Act, and includes peripheral area specified in the corresponding entry in Column 3 thereof. It is wrong to assume that all the land which is covered by the Master Plan or all the land which is included in urban agglomeration becomes "Urban Land". This is supported by the very definition of "Urban Land" as defined in Section 2(o) of the ULC Act which reads:

47. The effect of extension of Master Plan subseuqent to coming into force ULC Act was considered by the Supreme Court in State of A.P. v. N. Audikesava Reddy, 2001 AIR SCW 5, and Govt. of A.P. v. J. Sridevi, 2002 AIR SCW 17,68. In Audikesava Reddy, the Supreme Court held that the master plan prepared as per the law in force even subsequent to enforcement of the ULC Act has to be taken into consideration to determine whether a particular piece of land is vacant land or not. To that extent, the earlier judgment of the Supreme Court in Atia Mohammadi Begum v. State of U.P., 1993 AIR SCW 2740 = AIR 1993 SC 2463, was overruled. It was further held in Audikesava Reddy as follows:

48. In J. Sridevi, the Supreme Court referred to Audikesava Reddy and held that when a question arises as to the applicability of the provisions of the ULC Act, it is only the authorities like the Special Officer-cum-competent authority constituted under the ULC Act has to decide the question whether or not the land in question is a vacant urban land. The other authorities cannot decide these questions. The relevant observations are as follows:

.......When a statutory authority is vested with power to determine the question as to the applicability of the provisions of the Act, it is ordinarily desirable to leave the question to be decided by such authority. The aggrieved party can file appeal against the decision within the frame work provided under the statute and the ultimate decision also could be challenged under judicial review, if permitted in law. Instead of undergoing the normal procedure, the respondents herein directly approached the High Court for the reliefs sought for by them.