IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTY EIGHTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR W.P.Nos. 13118 of 1997, 18074 of 2000 & 14814 of 2002 WRIT PETITION NO : 13118 of 1997 Between: P.Venkata Subba Reddy son of Late P.Venkata Krishna Reddy Gudur Town, Nellore District ..... PETITIONER AND 1 District Collector Nellore District 2 Revenue Divisional Officer Gudur Nellore Dist 3 Mandal Revenue Officer vakadu Mandal Nellore District .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ, order or direction, preferably one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the Respondent in not implementing the D-From Patta issued in favour of P.V.Krishna Reddy & Co, Gudur, in respect of the land to an extent of Ac. 58-70 cents in S.No. 562 of Duggarajapatnam village, Vakadu Mandal (Erstwhile Gudur Taluk) Nellore Dist, in the revenue records, as illegal arbitrary and contrary to law; and consequently direct the respondents herein to implement the said D-From Patta in revenue records forthwith; WRIT PETITION NO : 18074 of 2000 Between: 1 Bandi Muneendra son of Subbaiah, Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 2 Kotlapati Ramanaiah son of Nallaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 3 Tupakula Ramanaiah son of Mutyalaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 4 Tupakula Mangaiah son of Mutyalaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 5 Kotipalli Polaiah son of Lakshmaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 6 Tupakula Venkata Swamy son of Mutyalaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 7 Pallapu Mani son of Ratnaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 8 Kantipalli Ramanaiah son of Lakshmaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 9 Pallapu Padmamma W/o Ratnaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 10 Kantipalli Subrahmanyam son of Lakshmaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 11 Sathani Navaneethamma W/o Krishnaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 12 Yatagiri Lakshmaiah son of Lakshmaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 13 Tagore Jangaiah son of Polaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 14 Uppala Ramaiah son of Somaiah, Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 15 Kanooru China Polaiah son of venkataiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 16 Tupakula Chenchamma W/o Sudhakaraiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 17 Balluvolu Ramanamma W/o Polaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 18 Thummagunta Ramanaiah son of Ramaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 19 Kanuru Ratnaiah son of Peddapolaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 20 Siddapareddy Nagaiah son of Venkataswamy Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 21 Manikala Polaiah son of Venkateswarlu Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 22 Dasari Subbaramaiah son of Polaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 23 Kanuru Chellaiah son of Ramaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 24 Manikala Lakshmaiah son of Polaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 25 Manikala Lakshmaiah son of Polaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 26 Manikala Ramanaiah son of Polaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 27 Kandala Ramanaiah son of Lakshmaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 28 Bandi Chenchaiah son of Subbaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 29 Kumari Ramamma D/o Ramanaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 30 Sathani Rangaiah son of Rangaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 31 Kandala Chengamma W/o Prakasam Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 32 Thoguru Bodaiah son of Jangaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 33 Konduru Sudhakaru son of Subbaramaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 34 Tauguru Bodaiah son of Amasaiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 35 Kanooru Munuswamy son of Venkataiah Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District 36 Kantipalli Laksmaiah son of Polaiah, Duggarajapatnam Village, Vakadu Mandalam Nellore District ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 The Dy Commissioner Govt of India Chennai-6, Tamil nadu 2 Salt Factory Officer Krishnapatnam Salt Factory Krishnapatnam, Nellore Dist 3 Y.Srihari Reddy Indhupur Village, Allur Mandal Nellore District .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction declaring the action of the Respondent 1 and 2 in not exempting and surrendering the land of an extent of Ac. 15-00 in Sy.No. 562 and Ac. 25-00 in Sy.No. 771 of Duggarajupatnam village to the State Govt as requested by the Collector and granting lease to 3rd Respondent for manufacturing of salt as wholly arbitrary, illegal, without jurisdiction and consequently direct the Respondent 1 and 2 to exempt and surrender Ac. 15-00 of Land in Sy.No. 562 and Ac. 25-00 of land in Sy.No.771 of Duggarajupatnam village, Vakadu Mandal to the State Govt as requested by the District Collector, Nellore in her letter No. Rc.E2.3888/99 dated. 31/07/1999 And WRIT PETITION NO : 14814 of 2002 Between: P.Venkata Subba Reddy son of Late P.Venkata Krishna Reddy Gudur, Nellore District ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Dy Salt Commissioner Govt of India, Chennai Tamil Nadu 2 The District Collector Nellore Dist 3 The Mandal Revenue Officer vekada Mandal, Vakada , Nellore Dist 4 Y.Srihari Reddy son not known to petitioner Hindupur Village, Allur Mandal, Nellore Dist .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ or Order or more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 1st Respondents in granting lease to the 4th Respondent herein for Manfacture of Salt over an extent of Ac. 58-70 cents land situated in S.No.562 of Duggarajupatnam village, Vakada Mandal, Nellore Dist, vide proceedings C.No. 11013(21) P/92/492-95 dated: 10/01/2000 as arbitrary, illegal, unjust, unfair and one without Jurisdiction . Counsel for the Petitioners: MR.M.RAVINDRANATH REDDY Mr. M.P. Chandramouli Counsel for the Respondents: Mr. M. Ratna Reddy, Mr. P. Sridhar Reddy, GP FOR ASSIGNMENT The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR W.P.Nos. 13118 of 1997, 18074 of 2000 & 14814 of 2002 COMMON ORDER 1. All these three writ petitions are disposed of by this common order as they relate to same subject matter and facts are almost similar and in fact the petitioner in W.P.No. 14814 of 2002 is also the petitioner in W.P.No. 13118 of 1997. 2. W.P.No. 18074 of 2000 is filed by 36 petitioners alleging that they are landless poor persons belonging to schedule caste community and they are residing at Kothagirijanawada hamlet of Duggarajapatnam, Nellore district. They alleged that they are cultivating for the last 20 years, small extents of land, out of 40 acres of Government poramboke land in Sy.No. 562 and 771 of Duggarajupatnam village. That they had made several representations to the Government for grant of pattas and ultimately by the orders of the District Collector, the Mandal Revenue Officer, Vakadu has granted Eksal lease pattas for their respective extents of the land in September, 1998 and since then they are in continuous possession and enjoyment of their respective extents of land. They alleged that when there was an interference in their possession at the instance of officials of first respondent, they made a representation to the Mandal Revenue Officer, Vakadu who, after enquiry, has submitted a report on 10.6.1999 confirming the possession of the petitioners and recommending the District Collector to request the Deputy Superintendent of Salt, Krishnapatnam to delete or exempt the these lands from their control. Based upon the said report of the Mandal Revenue Officer, the District Collector, Nellore under his proceedings dated 31.7.1999 has recommended their case to the authorities of respondents 1 and 2 for deletion of these lands from the control of the first respondent. The petitioners alleged that no decision is taken by the respondents 1 and 2, but their possession is being interfered with. As such, they filed this writ petition questioning the action of the respondents 1 and 2 in not exempting and surrendering the land to an extent of Ac.15-00 in Sy.Nos. 562 and Ac.25-00 in Sy.No. 771 of Duggarajupatnam village to the State Government as requested by the Collector and also questioned the granting of lease to 3rd respondent for manufacturing of salt as wholly arbitrary, illegal and without jurisdiction. They have also sought consequent direction to the respondents 1 and 2 to exempt and surrender the said land to the State Government as requested by the District Collector, Nellore in her letter dated 31.7.1999. 3. W.P.No. 13118 of 1997 is filed on the allegation that the father of the petitioner had applied for grant of Ac.58-70 cents in S.No. 562 of Duggarajapatnam village, erstwhile Gudur Taluk, on payment of market value in the year 1964. The petitioner stated that his request was favourably considered and the said land was assigned by the Government vide G.O.Ms.No. 292, Revenue Department, dated 20.2.1964 and the market value fixed by the Government was also paid by his father. The said assignment was subject to certain conditions and on the ground that there was delay in manufacturing the salt, the Government had cancelled the assignment vide G.O.Ms.807, Revenue Department, dated 24.7.1968. But when the petitioner’s father explained to the Government that the delay was only on account of not getting the licence from the Central Government, the said cancellation orders were revoked by the Government vide G.O.Ms.No. 8, Revenue Department, dated 3.1.1969. It is claimed that the petitioner’s father continued to be in possession of the aforesaid land. The petitioner, however, alleged that his father’s name is not being recorded in revenue records in spite of several representations and ultimately he filed this writ petition seeking a direction to the District Collector and revenue authorities to implement D-form patta issued in favour of P.V. Krishna Reddy and Company, Gudur in respect of the aforesaid land in revenue records. 4. W.P.No. 14814 of 2002 is filed by the petitioner in W.P.No. 13118 of 1997 on further allegation that after his father was granted assignment of the land and while being in possession, in April, 2002 the 4th respondent entered into a part of the land and started manufacturing the salt and on enquiries, the petitioner was informed that the first respondent herein has granted a lease in favour of the 4th respondent over an extent of Ac.140 of Duggarajupatnam village including the land granted to the petitioner’s father. It is further alleged that there upon the petitioner has secured the proceedings of the first respondent and challenges the said action of the first respondent in granting lease of the land to fourth respondent on the ground that rights were already created in favour of the petitioner’s father when the State Government assigned the aforesaid land by collecting market value as long as in 1964. 5. No counter is filed in WP No. 13118 of 1997. Respondent No.3 filed counter in W.P.No. 18074 of 2000 and respondent No.1 to 3 filed their counters in WP No. 14814 of 2002. 6. First respondent i.e., Deputy Salt Commissioner in Salt Department, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India in WP No. 14814 of 2002 filed a counter contending that the entire extent of land which is subject matter of these writ petitions is owned by the Union of India by virtue of Section 172 (1) (a) of the Government of India Act, 1935 whereby all lands and buildings which immediately before the commencement of Part III of the said Act were vested in the Government of India. The respondent No.1 further claims that the Salt Department, Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion owns an extent of 100.40 acres of land in Sy.Nos. 562, 763 and 771 at Duggarajapatnam village, Vakadu Mandal of Nellore district. It is alleged that the licensed Salt Factory by name Duggarajapatnam Salt Factory existed on the said land till 1960 and the salt was being manufactured through the lessees of Salt Department. However, due to various reasons like depletion of brine supply source etc. salt manufacturing activities were suspended from 1960. He further contends that some time in May, 1992 the Assistant Salt Commissioner, Kakinada, on his visit to Duggarajapatnam, found encroachments on the land and immediately he instructed the Mandal Revenue Officer, Vakadu to take steps for removal of encroachments. It is further alleged that at that time, however, enquiry was made with reference old diglot of Duggarajapatnam village as well as descriptive memoir of Duggarajapatnam village and also old village map and it was found that the aforesaid lands belonged to the Government of India and as such the Mandal Revenue Officer as well as Collector, on being satisfied, issued necessary instructions for planting of survey stones and removal of all encroachments. It is also alleged that some assignments were erroneously made by the revenue department of the State and those assignments were sought to be cancelled as the State Government has no jurisdiction. 7. Respondents 2 and 3 filed their counter in W.P.No. 14814 of 2002 confirming that assignment of Ac.58.70 cents in S.No. 562 was undoubtedly made in favour of M/s. P.V. Krishna Reddy and Company on the basis of report then received from the Deputy Salt Commissioner, Madras that the land did not belong to Central Government and the said assignment was made subject to conditions in the G.O. It is further stated in the counter that it came to light and knowledge of the State Government that the land belongs to the Government of India and as per the correspondence with the Deputy Salt Commissioner, Madras and in view of the diglot maintained by the revenue authorities, it was confirmed that the land belongs to the Central Government and the State Government has no control over the said land which was assigned in favour of M/s. P. V. Krishna Reddy and Company in the year 1964. 8. I have heard Sri M.P. Chandramouli and Sri P. Ravindranath Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri M. Ratna Reddy, learned standing counsel for Central Government and Sri P. Sridhar Reddy, learned counsel for respondent-lessee. 9. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners is based upon the petitioners’ long occupation of the land and the orders passed in their favour by the State Government from time to time. They submit that only after obtaining clarification from the first respondent, the State Government proceeded to issue the orders of assignment which have created valuable rights in favour of the petitioners and at this long length of time, the said rights cannot be disturbed in the manner so as to deprive the petitioners of their land which is being cultivated by them for several decades. 10. Learned standing counsel for the Central Government, however, contends that the ownership of the Central Government is established and evident from the revenue record itself, apart from the village maps and survey maps, and the land was demarcated and assigned to salt factory, and as such neither the State Government nor the petitioners can claim any right over the said land. He further contends that the Central Government, in the past, and even now, continues to exercise exclusive control over the ownership of the land and as such even if there are any orders of assignment or grant in favour of the petitioners from the State Government, the same has no effect and no legal right flows in favour of the petitioners in view of the fact that the State Government has itself no power. 11. Sri P. Sridhar Reddy, learned counsel for the respondent-lessee submits that in pursuance of the lease granted to the respondent No.4 long ago, they have already started manufacturing activity of salt and almost the entire extent is in their possession and submits that all these writ petitions are liable to be dismissed. 12. I have considered the submissions as above and examined the counter affidavits as well as documents appended thereto. It is evident from the record that all these lands as mentioned in the counter of the first respondent are shown to be belonging to the Central Government as per the old diglot as well as descriptive memoir of the village. The petitioners have not been able to controvert the aforesaid assertions of the first respondent and in fact, the counter- affidavit filed by the State Government also confirms that all the lands belong to the Central Government. In fact, prayer in one of the writ petitions is to exempt or release land covered by the grant from the purview of the Central Government. This by itself pre-supposes that the Central Government owns the land and all the lands are under the control of the Central Government. In fact, the recommendations of the Mandal Revenue Officer and the Collector which are relied upon in W.P.No. 18074 of 2000 supporting the case of the petitioners therein were replied to by the Deputy Superintendent of Salt, Government of India under their letter dated 7.2.2000 addressed to the Collector and District Magistrate, Nellore. In the said letter itself the request of the Collector for release of these lands was rejected and it was asserted that the entire land was offered on lease to private party for manufacturing of salt and Duggarajupatnam Salt Factory is being reopened which is going to add to the prosperity of the Salt Industry in Nellore district and in view of the over-weighing importance of this matter in leasing out the lands for salt cultivation, the State Government was requested to help the Salt Department by evicting the encroachers. With the rejection of the aforesaid recommendations of the Mandal Revenue Officer and the Collector, therefore, in all respects, the grievance of the petitioners does not survive. Further, the State Government itself in their counter-affidavit have categorically stated that they have later come to know that all these lands belong to the Government of India and are under the control of the Government of India and in view of the same, the State Government specifically states that it has no control over the lands. It, therefore, goes without saying that any assignment or grant made by the State Government in favour of any individual including any of the petitioners in this batch of writ petitions is clearly without jurisdiction and neither of the petitioners can claim any legal right based on the said grant. 13. In view of the above, therefore, no relief can be granted to any of the writ petitioners and the writ petitions are liable to be dismissed. Accordingly all the writ petitions are dismissed. However, there shall be no order as to costs.t Dt. 28.11.2008 ________________________ VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR, J KR ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 District Collector Nellore District 2 Revenue Divisional Officer Gudur Nellore Dist 3 Mandal Revenue Officer vakadu Mandal Nellore District 4 The Dy Commissioner Govt of India Chennai-6, Tamil nadu 5. 2 CCs to GP for Assignment 6. 2 CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{ }