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THE ANDHRA PRADESH (ANDHRA AREA) INAMS (ABOLITION AND

CONVERSION INTO RYOTWARI) ACT, 1956

(Act No. XXXVII of 1956)

In December 1955, the Government introduced the Madras

Estates Lands (Andhra Amendment) Bill, 1955 in the Legislative Assembly
for the Amendment of Section 3(2) (d) of the Madras Estates Land Act,
1908, with the object of enlarging the definition of ‘Estate’ under that Act
so as to cover certain marginal inams such as inam hamlets and inam
khandrigas. The Bill was referred to a select Committee, which had
made certain recommendations in regard to the provisions of the Bill.
The Government have carefully considered these recommendations and
have decided that the scope of the above Bill should be restricted to
inam khandrigas and inam hamlets in inam villages and that separate
legislation should be undertaken with a view to converting other inams in
inam villages as well as all inams in ryotwari and zamindari, villages into
ryotwari tenure. The present bill accordingly provides for the conversion
of all inam lands other than estates into ryotwari tenure.

The Bill provides that in the case of inam lands held by inamdars
other than religious, charitable and educational institutions in inam
villages, the tenant, if any, who was in occupation of the lands on the 7th
January, 1948 (the date on which the Madras Estates Land (Reduction of
Rent) Act, 1947 came into force, but who was subsequently evicted by or
at the instance of the Inamdar, or in the absence of such tenant, the
tenant, if any, in occupation of the land on the date of commencement
of the Act shall be entitled to a ryotwari patta in respect of two-thirds of
the land in his occupation, on his suffering the remaining one-third in
favour of the inamdar. The inamdar will be entitled to a ryotwari patta in
respect of the remaining one-third, such one-third share being deemed
to be the compensation payable to the inamdar for the extinguishments
of his rights in the two-thirds share of the land. The inamdar will also be
entitled to a ryotwari patta in respect of the land in his occupation on the
date of commencement of the Act provided that no tenant is entitled to
a ryotwari patta thereto on the ground of his having been in occupation
there of on the 7th January, 1948.
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An Act to abolish and convert certain inam lands into ryotwari lands.

Whereas it is expedient to abolish and convert certain inam lands

into ryotwari lands:

Be it enacted in the Seventh Year of the Republic of India as

follows;

1. Short title, extent, application and commencement:

(1) This Act may be called the Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Area)
Inams (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1956.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Andhra, but applies only
to inam lands described in clause (c) of section 2.
(3) It shall come into force at once.

2. Definitions:-
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires ---
(a) “Collector” means the Collector of a District;
(b) “Government” means the State Government;
(c) “Inam land’ means any land in respect of which the grant in
inam has been made, confirmed or recognized by the
Government, but does not include an inam constituting an
estate under the Madras Estate Land Act, 1908 (Madras Act 1
of 1908);
(d) “Inam village” means a village designated as such in the
revenue accounts of the Government.
(e) “Institution” means a religious, a charitable or an educational
institution.
(f) “Prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(g) “Revenue Court” means the Court of the Revenue Divisional
Officer having jurisdiction over the area in which the inam
lands are situate;
(h) “Ryotwari village” means a village designated as such in the
revenue accounts of the Government;
(i) “Settlement” includes resettlement;
(j) “Tahsildar” means the Tahsildar having jurisdiction over the
area in which the inam lands are situate and includes a Deputy
Tahsildar in charge of the taluk or sub-taluk in which the inam
lands are situate and an officer of the Revenue Department
not lower in rank than a Deputy Tahsildar empowered by the
Government in this behalf;
(k) “Zamindari village” means a village designated as such in the
revenue accounts to the Government.
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THE ANDHRA PRADESH (ANDHRA AREA) INAMS
(ABOLITION & CONVERSION INTO RYOTWARI) ACT, 1956

Inam :- any land in respect of which the grant in inam

has been made, confirmed or recognized by
the Government, and includes any land in the
merged territory of Banaganapalle in respect
of which the grant in inam has been made,
confirmed or recognized by any former rule of
that territory) but does not include an inam
constituting an estate under the Madras
Estates Land Act, 1908.

Inam Village:- A village designated as such in the revenue

accounts of the Government and includes a
village so designated immediately before it
was notified and taken over by the
Government under the Madras Estates
(Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act,
1948.

Section-2A Notwithstanding any thing contained in this

Act all Communal lands and porambokes,
grazing lands, waste lands, forest lands,
mines and quarries, tanks, tank-beds and
irrigation works, steams and rivers,
fisheries and ferries in the inam lands shall
stand transferred to the Government and vest
in them free of all encumbrances. (Act
2/1975)

Act came into force on 14.12.1956

Crucial date is 07.01.1948

Section-3 Determination of Inam lands:-

3(1) As soon as may be, after the commencement of this

Act, the Tahsildar, may suo motu and shall on
application enquire and determine-

i. Whether a particular land in his jurisdiction is an inam

land;
ii. Whether subch inam land is in ryotwari, zamindari or
inam village;

iii. Whether such inam land is held by any institution.

 In order to ascertain whether a particular village is an
Inam village under this Act, it is necessary to look into the
revenue accounts. (i.e. from the origin of the grant upto
the date of its abolition).
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 Failure of Inam Tahsildar to publish notice u/s 3 – his

decision under the Act is nullity and without jurisdiction.

3(2) Before holding such enquiry, Tahsildar shall cause to

be published in the village or town where the inam lands
are situate a notice in the prescribed manner requiring
every person or institution claiming an interest in any
such inam land, to file before him, a statement of
particulars in respect of items (i)(ii)(iii) in sub-section (1)
within the prescribed time.

Notices u/s 3(2) have to be issued but they need

not be served individually.

3(3) The Tahsildar shall thereafter give the persons or

institutions concerned a reasonable opportunity of
adducing any evidence in support of their cases and may
also examine any relevant document in the possession
of the Government and give his decision in writing in
regard to items (i)(ii)(iii) in sub-section (1) and
communicate the decision to the person or institutions.

3(4) Any person or institution aggrieved by a decision of the

Tahsildar under 3(3) may appeal to the Revenue Court
within 60 days from the date of communication of the
decision.

When there is no express exclusion in the Act nor is

there any prohibition imposed for entertaining
appeal under section 3(4) of the Act beyond the
period of limitation, petition for condonation of
delay in filing appeal is maintainable.

The appellate authority has no jurisdiction to hold a

suo motu enquiry when the order of the Tahsildar
was not appealed from.

3(5) The decision of the Revenue Court under sub-section (4),

and in case no appeal is filed, the decision of the Tahsildar
under sub-section (3) shall be final.

3(6) Every decision of the Revenue Court under sub-section (4)

and if no appeal is filed within the period specified in sub-
section (4) every decision of the Tahsildar under sub-
section (3), shall as soon as possible, be published in the
District Gazette, and in such other manner as may be
prescribed.
3(7) Every decision of the Revenue Court, and subject to such
decision, every decision of the Tahsildar under this
section, shall be binding on all persons and institutions
claiming an interest in any such inam lands
notwithstanding that such persons or institutions have not
filed any application or statement, or adduced any
evidence or appeared or participated in the proceedings
before the Tahsildar or the Revenue Court, as the case
may be.
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Notes..

 The order of Tahsildar under Section 7 also becomes a

nullity when the Tahsildar under suo-motu enquiry giving
only the public notice contemplated under 3(3) but
without giving individual notices to concerned persons
under 3(5).

 The obligation on the part of the Tahsildar to give

individual notices to the persons interested under the law
under rule 3(5) of the Rules will arise only when he comes
to know of the interestedness of the people by some
method or other but not otherwise. (2001 ALT 281, AIR
2001 AP 210, 2001(1) ALD 134)

 The Correctness of the order under Section 3 can not be

questioned in proceedings under Section 7.

4. Conversion of inam lands into ryotwari lands:-

1) In the case of an Inam land in a ryotwari or zamindari

village the person or institution holding such land as
inamdar on the date of commencement of this Act shall be
entitled to a ryotwari patta in respect thereof.

2) In the case of an Inam land in an inam village:

a. If such a land is held by any institution on the date

of commencement of this Act, such institution shall
be entitled to a ryotwari patta in respect of that
land;

Section 5 and 6 are related to tenants

7. Grant of ryotwari pattas:-

1) As soon as may be after commencement of this Act and

subject to the provisions of sub-section (4), the Tahsildar
may suo-motu and shall, on applications by a person or
an institution, after serving a notice n the prescribed
manner on all the persons or institutions interested in the
grant of ryotwari pattas in respect of the inam lands
concerned and after giving them a reasonable opportunity
of being heard …

2) Any person or institution aggrieved by the grant of a

ryotwari patta by the Tahsildar under sub-section (1) may
appeal to the Revenue Court within sixty days from the
date of such grant, and the Revenue Court may, after
giving the parties to the appeal a reasonable opportunity
of being heard pass such orders on the appeal as it thinks
fit.
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14-A Revision:-

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the

Board of Revenue may, at any time either suo-motu or on
application made to it, call for and examine the records relating
to any proceedings taken by the Tahsildar, the Revenue Court
or the Collector under this Act for the purpose of satisfying itself
as to the regularity of such proceeding or the correctness,
legality or propriety of any decision made or order passed
therein and if any case, it appears to the Board of Revenue that
any such decision or order should be modified, annulled,
reversed or remitted for reconsideration, it may pass orders
accordingly.

(2) No order prejudical to any persons shall be passed

under sub-section
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THE ANDHRA PRADESH (TELANGANA AREA) ABOLITION
OF INAMS ACT, 1955

The Act provides for abolition of all Inams other than

village service inams and inams held by religious and charitable
institutions in Telangana districts of Andhra Pradesh and giving
adequate compensation for the lands resumed from the
Inamdars. It also allows retention by the Inamdar as well as his
tenents of lands under their personal cultivation to the extent of
the maximum allowed under the Hyderabad tenancy and
agricultural lands Act, 1950.

The provisions of the Act have been enforced in two

phases with the two different dates, firstly abolition and vesting
inams in the state was on 20.07.1955 and rest of provisions
such as conferring occupancy rights etc., is from 01.11.1973.

The Collector is competent to decide the cases under the

Act. (The RDOs have been empowered to discharge the
functions of Collector by G.O. Ms.No. 1122 dt.20.8.75). Any
person aggrieved by the order of Collector under Section 10 can
appeal to the Board of Revenue and under Section 19,20,21,22
may appeal to Spl. Tribunal. Further a revision on the orders of
Collector or Spl. Tribunal also lies to the High Court.

It is further submitted that the Government have

amended the words “District Collector” in place of “Board of
Revenue” in Sub-Rule (1) of Rule 18 of the AP (T.A) Abolition of
Inam rules 1975, vide G.O. Ms. No. 663 Rev (F) Dept., dated
1.6.1977. The Government further issued another amendment
reserving the subject “The A.P. (TA) Abolition of Inam Act 1955”
to the Joint Collector after deleting the same from the Collector
vide G.O.Ms.No. 818, Rev. (Ser.I) Dept., dated 06.09.1990.

In view of the above Rule Position, the Commissioner,

Appeals has no jurisdiction to entertain any orders passed under
Section 24(1) of the AP (TA) Abolition of Inam Act 1955.

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