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From 1959 to 2006, all local body offices in Mangapet Mandal were open to the general category, subject to reservation by rotation. By notification dated 21.04.1950 of the Nizam of Hyderabad State, Hyderabad State was divided into 16 districts. All the 23 villages which were in Mangapet Mandal were deleted from Paloncha Taluq and included in Mulug Taluq. The President of India issued notification dated 07.12.1950 under Para 6(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution excluding these 23 villages in Mulug Taluq from the list of Scheduled Areas and specifying other villages in Mulug Taluq as Scheduled Areas. Therefore, action of the respondents in treating these villages as schedules areas and in reserving local body offices in favour of Scheduled Tribes was challenged as illegal.

7. Counter affidavits were filed in both the writ petitions. It was contended that Mangapet Mandal consisted of 23 revenue villages which were organised into 18 Gram Panchayats. Notification dated 16.11.1949 was issued declaring the tribal areas in the State of Hyderabad and the last entry of Warangal District records the villages of Taluq and Samasthan of Paloncha as tribal areas with the exception of Paloncha, Borgamphad, Ashwaraopeta, Dammapeta, Kaknur and Nellipak villages, as a result of which all the subject 23 villages which were then in Paloncha Taluq became part of the tribal areas in the erstwhile State of Hyderabad and in view of Article 372 of the Constitution of India, areas which were notified by the Government of Hyderabad as tribal areas continued to remain as such. List published by the Government of Hyderabad in the notification dated 16.11.1949 formed the basis of the Presidential Order dated 07.12.1950. Government of Hyderabad exercised powers under Section 5 of the Hyderabad Land Revenue Act, 1317 Fasli and issued notification dated 21.04.1950 for re-organisation of Taluqs, by which the subject 23 villages which formed part of Mangapet Mandal were separated from Paloncha Taluq and clubbed with Mulug Taluq of Warangal District, which came into force from 06.05.1950. Notification dated 21.04.1950 was limited to the determination of boundaries of the respective Taluqs and identification of the villages included in it. Mere fact that a particular set of villages were removed from one Taluq and merged with another would not result in their cessation as notified tribal areas. When these 23 villages were clubbed into Mulug Taluq from 06.05.1950, they were still tribal area villages and the tribals of Mangapeta Taluq had been deprived of the benefits and protection given to scheduled areas and their lands had been encroached by non-tribals. It was the contention of the respondents that the intention behind issuance of notification dated 16.11.1949 was to rectify the wrong perpetuated all those years and the respondents had merely implemented the Presidential Order dated 07.12.1950 and the writ petitioners had no legal right to stop the election process as the constitutional rights of the Scheduled Tribes would be adversely affected. It was also stated in one of the counter affidavits of the respondents that this Court was not aware of the notification issued by the Government of Hyderabad dated 16.11.1949 while deciding W.P.No.1413 of 1973. Section 242-D of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 requires offices of Presidents of Gram Panchayats in scheduled areas to be reserved in favour of the Scheduled Tribes; since the subject 18 Gram Panchayats comprising of 23 revenue villages were declared as "Scheduled Areas" in the notification issued by the President of India dated 07.12.1950, the local body offices in the subject Gram Panchayats were required to be reserved in favour of the Scheduled Tribes. For the purpose of collection of land revenue and for better administration, the Government of Hyderabad had issued notification dated 21.04.1950 under Section 5 of the Hyderabad Land Revenue Act, 1317 Fasli, reorganising the Taluqs and forming Girdwar Circle in Warangal District and all the 23 villages, which formed part of Paloncha Taluq were shown in Girdwar Circle, Mangapet; all the villages in the Mangapet Mandal were treated as "Scheduled Areas" and offices, of local bodies therein, were reserved in favour of the Scheduled Tribes in the 2006 elections; even though the said action was challenged before this Court, elections were directed to be held and merely because local body offices were not reserved earlier in favour of the Scheduled Tribes would not confer any right on the petitioners to claim that these villages are non-Scheduled Areas. The President had declared the 23 villages of Mangapet Mandal, which were then in Paloncha Taluq of Warangal District, as "Scheduled Areas" in the Scheduled Areas (Part B States) Order dated 07.12.1950 and as none of those facts were brought to the notice of this Court while deciding W.P.No.1413 of 1973, the said judgment did not constitute a precedent. It was also contended that the Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Praja Parishad, Warangal had submitted particulars informing that these 23 villages of Mangapet Mandal were located wholly in Scheduled Areas and the 23 villages, which were in Mangapet Mandal were originally part of Paloncha Taluq of Warangal District; the erstwhile Hyderabad Government had sent proposals to the Government of India for issuing the Presidential Notification under Para 6(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution to declare these 23 villages also as "Scheduled Areas" in Paloncha Taluq when the entire Paloncha Samsthan and Taluq were then in Warangal District. Due to abolition of Jagirs, Taluqs were re-organized by way of the notification dated 21.04.1950 published in the Hyderabad Extraordinary Gazette No.47 dated 23.04.1950; as a result the 23 Samsthan villages, which were hitherto part of Paloncha Taluq were tagged to Mangapet Circle of Mulug Taluq in Warangal District on the ground of administrative convenience, before formation of Khammam District (Khammam District was formed in the year 1953 by Notification dated 18.09.1953). The "Scheduled Areas (Part-B States) Order, 1950 was issued solely on the basis of the proposals sent much earlier by the erstwhile Hyderabad Government. The 23 villages, which figured under Paloncha Samsthan (Paloncha Taluq) were notified as scheduled villages under Item 13 of the Presidential Order. As these villages figured under Paloncha Samsthan (Paloncha Taluq), its status would not change merely because these villages had, in the interregnum, been tagged on to Mulug Taluq; the list of villages, both in the Presidential Order dated 07.12.1950, and the notification dated 16.11.1949 issued under the Tribal Area Regulations 1359 Fasli are the same; and even the names of the villages appeared in the same order in both the lists. A similar counter affidavit was filed in W.P.No.19085 of 2013. It was stated therein that mere non-inclusion of these 23 villages of Mulug Taluq in the Presidential Order dated 07.12.1950 would not mean that they automatically become non-scheduled areas as these villages were notified in Paloncha Taluq and even after formation of State of Andhra Pradesh, till it was repealed by Regulation II of 1963 dated 01.12.1963, these areas were governed by the Tribal Area Regulation, 1359 Fasli and the Rules made thereunder. 227 villages of Paloncha Taluq including the subject 23 villages were scheduled/tribal areas ever since 1949 and in view of Section 4(g) of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, seats in panchayats in the "Scheduled Areas" were required to be reserved in favour of the Scheduled Tribes and the validity of Section 4(g) was upheld by the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Rakesh Kumar1.

8. A common reply affidavit was filed by the petitioners in W.P.No.19085 of 2013. It was contended that Government of the erstwhile State of Hyderabad had issued notification dated 21.04.1950 dividing Hyderabad State into 16 Districts and notifying circles, villages and taluqs; under the notification dated 21.04.1950, Mangapet circle was in Mulug Taluq and consisted of 23 villages and the 23 1 (2010) 4 SCC 50 villages of Mangapet Mandal were not notified as "Scheduled Areas" in the Presidential Order dated 07.12.1950. It was stated that this Court by its order in W.P. No.1413 of 1973 dated 30.11.1973, held that the 23 villages in Mangapet Mandal were not "Scheduled Areas", which confirmed in W.A. No.486 of 1974. The Presidential Order did not notify these 23 villages as agency areas is evident from the proceedings of the District Collector dated 20.07.2000, 17.10.2000 and 07.12.2000; the Director of Tribal Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh, in his proceedings dated 05.12.2003 specifically mentioned that these 23 villages were not included in the list of agency areas and by the time the Scheduled Areas (Part B-States) Order was issued on 07.12.1950, the subject 23 villages were excluded from Paloncha Taluq and included in Mulug Taluq of Warangal District by the notification dated 21.04.1950. These 23 villages cannot, therefore, be treated as Scheduled Areas in the absence of a Presidential notification. It was further submitted that at the time of issuance of the Notification dated 16.11.1949, the 23 villages of Mangapet Mandal were in Paloncha Taluq of Warangal District and they were subsequently deleted from Paloncha Taluq and included in Mulug Taluq by notification dated 21.04.1950. Certain villages in Mahabubnagar District were not notified as "Scheduled Areas" in the notification dated 16.11.1949. However, the said villages in Mahabubnagar District were notified as Scheduled Areas by the Scheduled Areas (Part B States) Order, 1950. Petitioners contended that if the contention of the respondents were to be accepted, the villages of Mahabubnagar District could not have been notified as Scheduled Areas and the order of this Court in W.P.No.1413 of 1973 dated 30.11.1973 had been confirmed in W.A.No.486 of 1974 dated 08.07.1974 and has attained finality and as this Court has held that the 23 villages of Mangapet Mandal were not declared as "Scheduled Areas" by the Scheduled Areas (Part B States) Order, 1950, the respondents could not now take a different stand at this length of time and the notification dated 16.11.1949 was not in existence as it was repealed by the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Laws (Extension and Amendment) Regulation, 1963. The contention that the Tribal Areas Regulation of 1949 was in existence and in force, by virtue of the provisions contained in Article 371 of the Constitution was contended to be misconceived. It was stated that as per Clause 3 of the Presidential Order, it was only the territorial divisions indicated therein which must be construed with reference to the territorial division of that name as existed at the commencement of the Order, but not otherwise and from the year 1950 till the year 2006, the 23 villages of Mangapet Mandal were treated as non-Scheduled Areas. That apart, several of the respondent-authorities had observed that these 23 villages were not notified as Scheduled Areas.

12. Learned Additional Advocate General has contended that erstwhile Government of Hyderabad had enacted Tribal Areas Regulation, 1356 Fasli for administration of tribal areas in the erstwhile State of Hyderabad. The said Regulation was replaced by Andhra (Telangana Tribal Areas) Regulation, 1359 Fasli. In exercise of the powers conferred under sub-section (2) of Section 1 of the said Regulation, Government of Hyderabad issued Notification No.2 dated 16.11.1949. By the said notification, all the villages of the Taluq and Samasthan of Paloncha excluding the villages of Paloncha, Borgamphad, Ashwaraopeta, Dammapeta, Kuknur and Nellipak were declared as scheduled villages. Consequent to the above notification, 23 villages which are subject matter of this area, have been included as part of the Scheduled Area in the erstwhile State of Hyderabad. Further, learned Additional Advocate General also argued that in view of the saving clause under Article 372(1) of the Constitution of India, all the laws in the force in India immediately before the commencement of the Constitution shall continue in force until the same are altered or repealed or amended by the competent legislature. It is the contention of the learned Additional Advocate General that as on the date of adoption of the Constitution of India, the notification issued during the regime of the Government of Hyderabad is legally valid and therefore, all the 23 villages are the scheduled villages governed by the provisions of the Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959 and also amenable to paragraph 6 of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India. 12.1. It is the contention of the learned Additional Advocate General that unless these areas which have been notified by the Government of Hyderabad and were in force after adoption of the Constitution of India and unless the said villages are de-notified by issuing notification by the President of India, it cannot be treated as a plain area as all the villages were part of Mulug Taluq. It is the further contention that at the time of issuance of the Notification they cannot be treated in isolation and separated from preliminary Notification which were in operation at the time of drafting of the Constitution of India. 12.2. It is also contended that Government is unable to protect the lands of the tribals from alienation due to non- application of Land Transfer Regulations to the subject villages primarily inhabited by the Scheduled Tribes and which have been encroached by the non-tribals. It is further contended that to rectify the wrong which has been perpetuated by robbing the tribal residents of these subject villages to reaffirming the constitutional status, the Government has declared the 23 villages as tribal areas and therefore, there is no legal infirmity in the impugned order warranting exercise of powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. It is further contended that the rectification orders have been issued for correction of earlier orders, as such the same does not require interference.