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Krishna Reddy | | _______________________________________ | | | | Subramanyam Reddy Daughter(name not Venkatarama (plaintiff) Known) Reddy | | ___________________________________ | | | | Pocha Subba Reddy Krishna Challamma (defendant No. 6) Reddy = (defendent No. 1) | | Srinivasan Reddy (defendant no.2) Defendants Nos. 1 and 2 and one P.K. Reddy were the owners of the lands in dispute which are situated in village Makhamambavilasam forming part of Chittoor district. Some of the lands were sold by defendants Nos. 1 and 2 and the rest by P.K. Reddy and defendant No. 2 by means of two sale deeds dated the 25th of September, 1947 (exhibits A-8 and A-9 respectively) in favour of defendant No. 6 who was the brother of defendant No. 1 and therefore the maternal uncle of defendant No. 2. Although both the sale deeds were supported by valid consideration, possession was not delivered to the vendee under either of them and continued to be with defendant No. 1.

On the 1st of October, 1953, came into being the State of Andhra through an Act of Parliament known as the Andhra State Act, by virtue of section 3 contained in Part II of which the entire Chittoor District forming part of the State of Madras prior to the said date was transferred, along with other areas, to the State of Andhra. Section 53 of the Act last mentioned provided as follows:

"53. The provisions of Part II shall not be deemed to have effected any change in the territories to which any law in force immediately before the appointed day extends or applies, and territorial references in any such law to the State of Madras or of Mysore shall, until otherwise provided by a competent Legislature or other competent authority, continue to have the same meaning."

As a result of this provision the district of Chittoor continued to be governed by all the laws, including the Act, which were in force in the State of Madras immediately before the 1st of October, 1953.

A dispute arose between defendant No. 1 and defendant No. 6 as to who of them was entitled to a patta under the Act in respect of the lands covered by exhibits A-8 and A-9. The Additional Assistant Settlement Officer resolved the dispute by means of an order dated the 14th of September, 1957 (exhibits B-3 and B-4) holding that defendant No. 1 was entitled to the patta on the ground that she had throughout been in possession of the lands in question to the exclusion On the same date, i.e., 14th of September, 1957, defendant No. 6 sold the lands in dispute by means of a registered sale deed (exhibit A-7) to the plaintiff who was his maternal uncle and who, about three years later, filed the suit (suit No. 169 of 1960) which has given rise to this appeal, against six persons, claiming declaration of title to the said lands and possession thereof. Defendants Nos. 1 and 2 were alleged by the plaintiff to have taken possession of part of the land while defendants Nos. 3 to 5 were accused of having trespassed into some other parts thereof. No relief was claimed against defendant No. 6 and the suit was based on sale-deed exhibits A-7, A-8 and A-9, all three of which were claimed to be genuine documents under which, it was pleaded by the plaintiff, possession had passed to defendant No. 6 in the first instance and to himself (the plaintiff) on the 14th of September, 1957. Another plea taken was that the grant of the patta in favour of defendant No. 1 under the order evidenced by exhibits B-3 and B-4 did not confer any title on her and was obtained fraudulently on the basis of her 'unlawful possession'.

2. The case was argued before us by learned counsel for the contending parties on the assumption that it was governed by the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Area) Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (hereinafter referred to as the Andhra Act'), the provisions enacted by which, except for necessary changes, were practically the same as those of the Madras Act. That assumption, however, is not well-founded. As already pointed out, Chittoor district (in which lie the lands in dispute) continued to be governed by the provisions of the Madras Act as they stood on the 1st of October, 1953, even after its transfer to the State of Andhra, by reason of the mandate of section 53 above extracted. After that date the Madras Act could be amended or repealed by the Andhra Pradesh legislature but till that was done, the district of Chittoor would continue to be governed by the Madras Act in its unamended form and as it stood on that date. We make it clear, however, that the correction of the error on which the assumption was based would not really make any difference to the decision of the case inasmuch as the relevant provisions of the Madras Act, as they stood on the 1st of October, 1953, are practically the same as the corresponding provisions of the Andhra Act. Apart from sections 3 and 11 to 15, it is section 56 of the Madras Act which clinches the matter. It reads thus: