Exclusive jurisdiction under agency-area land transfer law barred transfer of the suit despite allegations of complexity and bias.

Section 4 of the A.P. Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959, as amended, requires suits against Scheduled Tribe members in agency tracts to be instituted only before the designated forum with jurisdiction, and the Regulation prevails over other laws. A suit properly filed before the Agent to the Government in an agency area could not be transferred to an ordinary civil court merely because complicated legal questions were raised or bias was alleged. The special statutory forum remained exclusive, and reliance on powers under section 29 of the State Financial Corporations Act did not displace that jurisdiction.

---

---

Issues: Whether the suit pending before the Agent to the Government, filed under the special regime applicable to agency tracts, could be transferred to the Court of the District Judge on the ground that complicated questions of law were involved and bias was alleged.

Analysis: Section 4 of the A.P. Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation, 1959, as amended by Regulation 1/70, mandates that every suit against a member of a Scheduled Tribe instituted after the commencement of the Regulation shall be instituted only in the Court having jurisdiction over the agency tracts. The Regulation gives overriding effect over other laws and prescribes a special procedure and forum for such matters. The rice mill and the parties concerned were within the agency area, and the suit had been properly instituted before the authority vested with jurisdiction under the special law. The circumstance that the dispute may involve questions of law, or that allegations of bias were made, did not justify transferring the matter to an ordinary civil court when the statute itself barred trial by any other court. The petitioner's reliance on its powers under section 29 of the State Financial Corporations Act, 1951 did not displace the special forum created by the Regulation.

Conclusion: The transfer request was not maintainable, and the suit could not be shifted away from the statutory forum having jurisdiction over the agency tracts.

Final Conclusion: The special statutory forum prescribed for agency-area disputes prevailed, and the proceedings were allowed to continue before that forum.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special regulation expressly confers exclusive jurisdiction on a designated forum for suits concerning Scheduled Tribe members in agency tracts, an ordinary court cannot be substituted by transfer notwithstanding allegations of complexity or bias.

---