In Brief
B. Bal Reddy and other purchasers appealed against a High Court order restoring agricultural land to the heirs of a deceased Protected Tenant. The Supreme Court held that sales of tenanted land by the original owner to the appellants violated Section 38-D of the Hyderabad Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1950, which requires offering the land first to the Protected Tenant. Such illegal sales gave the purchasers no legal standing. The Court confirmed that a Protected Tenant's rights continue indefinitely unless validly terminated under the Act and pass to legal heirs, who may claim possession even if the original tenant had lost it. The appeals were dismissed with costs.
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