IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION Nos:16723 and 19326 of 2001 WRIT PETITION NO:16723 of 2001 Between: 1 K.Narayanamma, W/o. Jairam, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 2 B.Pitchaiah, S/o. Chenchaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 3 B.Mahalakshmamma, W/o. Chenchaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 4 J.Govindamma, W/o. Pitchaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 5 G.Vani, W/o. Venkatarami Reddy, R/o. Ramabhadrapuram. 6 B.Ramadevi, W/o. Lakshminarayana, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 7 G.Subbaratnam, W/o. Venkatarami Reddy, R/o. Ramabhadrapuram. 8 K.Govindamma, W/o. Seshi Reddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 9 Ramireddy Padma, W/o. Sivakumar, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 10 C.Venkata Lakshmi, W/o. Laskshminarayana, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 11 K.Seethamma, D/o. Subba Reddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 12 K.Suneetah, W/o. Seshi Reddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 13 A.Varalakshmi, W/o. Ramaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 14 K.Ramesh, S/o. Hanumaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 15 B.Kiran Kumar, s/o. Rambabu, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 16 K.Eswaramma, W/o. Lakshmaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 17 G.Nagamani, W/o. Baskaraiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 18 M.Lakshmaiah, S/o. Veeraiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 19 M.Sridevi , W/o. Srinivasulu, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 20 M.Mallikarjuna, S/o. Venkatasubbaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 21 M.Sudhamani, W/o. Yerraiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 22 M.Sudhamani, W/o. Yerraiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 23 M.Srinivasulu, S/o. Ramaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 24 M.Sowramma, W/o. venkataiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 25 A.Uma, W/o. Bhoopalaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 26 S.Srikrishna Murali Prasad, s/o. Pullaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 27 K.Murali Madhavi, W/o. Venkata Subba Rao, R/o. Ramabhadrapuram. 28 S.Vani, W/o. venkata Subba Rao, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 29 A.Eswaramma, W/o. Narasaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 30 M.Papaish, S/o. Pitchaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 31 M.Rajyalakshmi, W/o. sriramulu, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 32 M.Sriramulu, S/o. Papireddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 33 M.Ademma, W/o. Papaish. R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 34 P.Srinu, s/o. Venkataiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 35 G.Kotamma, W/o. Venkateswarlu, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 36 R.Seethamma, W/o. Subba Rao, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 37 R.Venkataratnam, W/o. Venkanna Babu, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 38 Y.Sridevi, W/o. Venkateswarlu, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 39 G.Padma, W/o. Subba Reddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 40 G.Venkata Suseela , W/o. Vijay Bhaskar, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 41 J.Lakshminarasamma, W/o. Jogaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 42 G.Venkataratnam, W/o. Jogi Reddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 43 G.Venkataratnam, W/o. Jogi Reddy, R/o. E.G.District. 44 K.Subba Reddy, S/o. Veerareddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 45 G.Rattamma, W/o.Yogaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 46 K.Nagamma, W/o.Lalaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 47 K.Kotamma, W/o. Peddireddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 48 B.Yogamma, W/o. Busini Reddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 49 L.Veeramma, W/o. Ankaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 50 A.Venkayamma, W/o. Subbaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 51 G.Srikanth, S/o. Yogaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 52 G.Tirupatamma, W/o. Venkatareddy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 53 B.Nagaratnamma, W/o. Ramulu, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 54 B.Ramaiah, S/o. Adaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 55 B.Ramaiah, S/o. Adaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 56 B.Nagendram, W/o. Srinu, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 57 A.Narasimha R$ao, S/o. Veeraiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 58 P.Venkamma, W/o. Ramaswamy, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 59 U.Lakshmamma, W/o. Venkaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 60 L.Vijayalakshmi, W/o. Ramaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 61 U.Subbulu, W/o. Gopaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 62 K.Gopaiah, S/o. venkataiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 63 T.Manikyam, W/o. Paul, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 64 U.Suamala , W/o. Subbaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 65 G.Koteswara Rao, S/o. Kotaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 66 C.Nagaiah, s/o. Mallaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 67 N.Satyanarayana, S/o. Hanumantha Rao, R/o. Ramabhadrapuram. 68 P.Purnachandra Rao, S/o. Kotaiah, R/o. Somavarappadu Villagge, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector, Ongole, Prakasham District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Kandukur, Prakasham District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Offricer, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. 4 Sri G.V.Subrahmanyam, Talluru Mandal, Prakasham District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.B.DEVANAND Counsel for Respondent Nos.1 to 3:AGP FOR REVENUE (Assignment) WRIT PETITION NO:19326 of 2001 Between: PRAKASAM ZILLA EKALAVYA SEVA SANGHAM (Regd.No.199/91) REP. BY ITS SECRETARY ETTA VENKATA SWAMY S/O. RASAIAH, EKALAVYANAGAR, THURUPUGANGAVARAM, TALLUR MANDAL, PRAKASAM DISTRICT ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Dist Collector, Ongole, Prakasam District. 2 Revenue Divisional Officer, Ongole, Prakasam District. 3 Mandal Revenue Officer, Tallur, Prakasam District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:SMT.S.V.INDIRA Counsel for the Respondents: AGP FOR REVENUE (Assignment) The Court made the following : COMMON ORDER: These two writ petitions are taken up for hearing and being disposed of together as they are inter-related. The petitioners in each of these two writ petitions have competing claims in respect of the land in Survey No.367 of Somavarappadu Village. The petitioners in Writ Petition No.16723 of 2001 claimed to have been granted assignment in 1997 by respondent No.3 by way of D-form pattas. They felt aggrieved by the inaction of respondent No.3 in ﬁxing boundaries to the lands assigned to them and also by the action of the revenue oﬃcials in informing them that they are going to assign those lands to third parties by cancelling their assignments. The petitioner in WP.No.19326 of 2001 is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and it claims that all it’s members belong to Scheduled Tribe community and they were granted temporary pattas in 1992 in respect of Ac.1.00 each and that in pursuance of the said temporary pattas, D-form pattas have not been granted to them under the influence of political leaders. WP.No.16723 of 2001 was disposed of on 21.08.2002 after taking note of the averments contained in the counter- aﬃdavit of respondent No.3 that the apprehension of the petitioners that they would likely to be dispossessed, was without any basis and they can approach the respondents for demarcation of the land assigned to them by paying necessary fees. Questioning the said order, the petitioner society in WP.No.19326 of 2001 ﬁled Writ Appeal No.557 of 2003, which was disposed of by the Division Bench of this Court on 10.04.2003 holding that WP.Nos.16723 and 19326 of 2001 are inter-connected and that the question as to which of the petitioners in the two writ petitions are entitled to the grant of D-form pattas is required to be decided by hearing both the writ petitions together. Accordingly, the Division Bench restored WP.No.16723 of 2001 to ﬁle, for being heard and disposed of along with WP.No.19326 of 2001. Hence, both these writ petitions are posted for hearing together. In WP.No.16723 of 2001, this Court on 13.08.2001 directed the District Collector to cause appropriate enquiry and ﬁle a status report. As the report was not ﬁled, this Court again, by order, dated 11.09.2008 directed the District Collector to immediately ﬁle the status report. Today, at the hearing, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue (Assignments) submitted a copy of report, dated 17.09.2008 sent by the District Collector, Prakasam. It is stated in the said report that Survey No.367 comprises the land of an extent of Acs.523.48 cents; that land of an extent of Acs.322.43 cents is covered by the Reserve Forest and rest of the land lies with the Revenue Department and that the land of an extent of Acs.196.47 cents is covered by Hill, locally called as Doddi Konda. It is further stated that in 1992, the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Talluru granted provisional assignment orders in favour of Smt. Gujjula Kasamma and 137 others of Somavarappadu Village @ Ac.1.00 each (it is admitted that these persons belonged to the members of the petitioner society in WP.No.19326 of 2001). In 1994, the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer again granted permanent pattas in favour of Smt. Sk.Hussain Bee and 90 others (these persons include the petitioners in WP.No.16723 of 2001) for an extent of Acs.97.82 cents of land and out of the said persons, 37 persons were already covered by the earlier assignment made in 1992. In his report, the Collector opined that the assignments were made in 1997 without cancelling the earlier assignments made in 1992 and that the assignees, who were granted assignment in 1994 and 1997 have not cultivated the lands assigned to them except Eucalyptus plantations in an extent of Acs.10.00 of land and that the rest of the land is being cultivated by the persons belonging to the Scheduled Tribe (members of the petitioner society in WP.No.19326 of 2001). The Collector has given the following breakup of the nature of the land and it’s classification. Sl.No. Status of the land Extent in Acs. 1) Revenue Land in Hill Poramboke 61.38 2) Forest Land in Hill Poramboke 135.09 3) Revenue Land covered by Assignment Pattas 139.67 4) Forest Land Covered by Assignment pattas 187.34 Total 523.48 He further opined that the extents covered by the Reserve Forest may be regularized under the provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2005 (for short ‘the Act’) as the enjoyers belong to the Scheduled Tribe; that in respect of the assigned lands in Reserve Forest area, cancellation proposals will be initiated and that in respect of the lands assigned outside Reserve Forest area i.e. Government land vested in the Revenue Department, action will be initiated against the assignees, who were granted assignment against the Rules, and the land enjoyed by the Scheduled Tribes will be regularized by way of granting DKT pattas as per the Assignment Norms/Rules, duly proposing for cancellation, if assignments were earlier made to the ineligible persons. The learned counsel for the petitioners in both the writ petitions have gone through the report and made their submissions. In my considered view, the proposed measures suggested by the District Collector appear reasonable. If assignments were made in 1992 to the eligible members belonging to the petitioner society in WP.No.19326 of 2001, no assignments ought to have been made in favour of the petitioners in WP.No.16723 of 2001 in 1997, unless those assignments were cancelled for valid reasons. From the report of the District Collector, as noted above, it is evident that no such cancellation has taken place before the land was assigned in 1997 in favour of some of the petitioners in WP.No.16723 of 2001. It is therefore, necessary that the District Collector holds an appropriate enquiry and if he ﬁnds that the assignments were made in favour of the Scheduled Tribe persons in 1992 and if they are found eligible to the extent of those lands, the subsequent assignments, if any made in 1994 or 1997 shall be cancelled. Conversely, if it is found that out of the persons to whom assignments were made in 1992, there were any ineligible assignees, such assignments have to be identiﬁed and cancelled after following due procedure and the subsequent assignments, if any made in favour of the petitioners in WP.No.16723 of 2001 shall be conﬁrmed provided the subsequent assignees are found eligible for assignment of such land. As regards the Reserve Forest area, as pointed out by the District Collector, the Tribals are entitled to be conferred with enjoyment rights under the provisions of the Act and he shall examine the claims of the eligible Scheduled Tribe persons in respect of such area. The District Collector shall give an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners in both the writ petitions. For this purpose, the petitioners either personally or through their representatives shall report before the District Collector, Prakasam, on 13.10.2008, who in turn, within a period of eight (8) weeks thereafter, shall pass a reasoned order and communicate the same to the respective parties/their representatives. Subject to the above observations, the writ petitions are disposed of. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 18th SEPTEMBER, 2008. Note: issue copy in one week. B/o kvni