IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH WRIT PETITION NO :4164 of 2006 Between: Sri Panchamukheswara Chaitanya Trust, Chinamamidada, Karapa Mandalam, E.G. District rep by its Founder Family Member Meria Bhaskara Chowdary. .....PETITIONER AND 1 District Collector, East Godavari at Kakinada & 2 others. .....RESPONDENTs This Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH WRIT PETITION NO :4164 of 2006 ORDER: This writ petition is filed by the petitioners seeking a writ of mandamus seeking to declare the action of respondents in not passing award as per section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (hereinafter referred to as “Act”) in respect of the land of the petitioner acquired pursuant to the notification under section 4 (1) of the Act published in the E.G. District Gazette on 8.9.2000 in respect of Ac.2.42 cents in S.No:208/2, 209, 210 and 211/2A of Velangi village, Karapa Mandal, East Godavari District and in not acquiring Ac.0.21 cents in S.No:211/2A of the said village as illegal, arbitrary and violative of Article 14 and 300A of Constitution of India and the provisions of the Act and consequently, to direct the respondents to pass the award under provisions of section 11 of the Act and further to direct the respondents to acquire an extent of Ac.0.21 cents in S.No:211/2A of Velangi village, Karapa mandal, East Godavari District. The petitioner is Sri Panchamukheswara Chaitanya Trust. Heard the learned counsel and perused the entire material available on record. The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner-trust was founded by Smt.Merla Suramma and Venkatarao in the year 1952 and an extent of Ac.28.69 cents of wet land and Ac.1.00 of dry land was donated to maintain the institutions viz., (a) Sri Subrahmanyeswara Swamy temple, (b) Sri Venugopala Swamy temple, (c) Sri Panchamukheswara Swamy temple, (d) Anandashram for old women, (e) Chalivendram at Anuru, (f) Sangeetha Patha Sala and (g) Sanskrit Pathasala. The deponent in the writ petition is a descendant of the founders of the trust and is appointed as a founder member trustee of the said trust in March, 2001. The further case of the petitioner is that on 4.9.2000, the 1st respondent proposed to acquire an extent of Ac.2.42 cents in S.No:208/2, 209, 210 and 211/2A of Velangi village, Karapa mandal, East Godavari District belonging to the petitioner for providing house sites to the weaker sections and on 5.9.2000, an extent of Ac.2.42 cents from the above endowed land belonging to the petitioner was acquired by the Government for providing house sites to weaker sections of the society by invoking the provisions of section 17 (4) of the Act. Notification under section 4 (1) of the Act was published in the East Godavari Gazette on 8.9.2000 and the possession of the lands was taken on 28.11.2001. On 16.1.2001, the 2nd respondent issued notice under section 9(3) and section 10 of the Act and vide proceedings ref. B1/2164/99, dated 1.11.2001, the 2nd respondent determined 80% of advance compensation under section 17 (3-A) of the Act at Rs.2,74,331/-. On 21.11.2001, a cheque for the said amount was directed to be handed over to the Executive Officer of the petitioner. On 5.2.2001, award enquiry was conducted. But, no award has been passed till date under the provisions of section 11 of the Act. On 18.6.2002 and subsequent thereto inspite of several requests to the respondent to pass an award, no award has yet been passed. Out of an extent of Ac.2.13 cents in S.No:211/2A, an extent of Ac.1.92 cents was only acquired and the balance extent of Ac.0.21 cents is enclosed within the acquired land and it is now impossible to have the access so as to cultivate the same as far as the petitioner is concerned. On 5.10.2000 and 4.11.2000, immediately after acquisition of Ac.2.42 cents, the then Executive Officer of the petitioner submitted a representation to the Revenue Divisional Officer, Kakinada to acquire the balance extent of Ac.0.21 cents of land. But, the same was not considered. Therefore, the said act of not passing of the award is illegal, arbitrary and voilative of Articles 14 and 311-A of the Constitution of India and also the provisions of the Act. Hence, the present writ petition is filed. On the other hand, a counter affidavit has been filed by the respondents stating that the lands in question were acquired and the possession was taken on 28.11.2001 and advance compensation of 80% was paid to the Executive Officer of the Trust. The amount was received by the land owners (Executive Officer). It is further stated that Award could not be passed for want of approval of the proposal by the Endowment Commissioner and the petitioner has no cause to complain on this point as the land belongs to Endowment department and the petitioner is a family member of the trust. The act of passing of award is an administrative action and it has no bearing on the endowments maintenance and it is the matter between the trust and the Endowment department. There is no violation of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India. It is also stated that if the endowment institutions are starving for funds, it is related to proper management of the trust, but not due to delay in payment of 20% of balance of compensation. The trust will receive incidentals from the date of taking possession of the lands. In so far as the request of the petitioner to acquire the balance extent of Ac.0.21 cents of land is concerned, it is stated that it is for the Government to acquire the land to the extent of necessity. But, the petitioner cannot compel the Government to acquire the full extent of land. Therefore, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed. The main contention of the petitioner is that admittedly, the land in question was acquired by the Government and possession of the land was taken under the provisions of Section 17 of the Act and therefore, it is the duty caste on the part of the Land Acquisition Officer to pass appropriate award within time in accordance with law. But, the same has not yet been done. Therefore, he sought for a direction to pass appropriate award forthwith. His further contention is that while acquiring the land in question, balance extent of Ac.0.21 cents of land in S. No.211/2A was not acquired and thereby the petitioner is deprived of his right of cultivation and utility of the said land because the said piece of land is in the middle of the land acquired. Therefore, unless and until the said land is also acquired and compensation is paid in that regard, the petitioner will be put to irreparable loss. On the other hand, the learned G.P. for respondents submitted that admittedly, the land in question was acquired for the purpose of providing house sites to the weaker sections of the society and advance possession was taken and the award enquiry was conducted. But, the award could not be passed for want of approval of the endowment commissioner and therefore, the petitioner has no cause to complain on this point as the land belongs to endowment department. It is further submitted that in view of the fact that advance possession was taken and 80% of the compensation was already received by the Executive Officer of the trust and therefore, no illegality has been committed by the respondents. Having regard to the submissions made by both the counsel, what is to be seen is as to whether the petitioner is entitled to any relief in the writ petition ? At the outset, it is to be stated that the proceedings initiated by the respondents under the provisions of the Act, has not been challenged. The main grievance of the petitioner is that having acquired the land and having taken the advance possession and having deposited 80% of the compensation, the respondents have not yet passed any award. Therefore, the respondents may be directed to pass the award. In so far as an extent of Ac.0.21 cents of land is concerned, his grievance is that this piece of land is in the midst of the land acquired and therefore, the petitioner is deprived of cultivating the same and unless and until the said land is also acquired, the petitioner will be put to irreparable loss. Having regard to the submissions and in view of the fact that the lands were acquired long back and possession was taken as early as in the year 2001 and award enquiry was conducted and the award could not be passed for want of approval of the Commissioner of Endowments, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, I feel it just and proper to direct the respondents to pass the award within a period of two (2) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Further, the respondents are directed to consider the representation made by the petitioner seeking to acquire the balance extent of Ac.0.21 cents of land and dispose of the same in accordance with law within a period of two (2) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. With the above direction, this writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. ______________________ Justice G.Chandraiah Date: 22.12.2009 gurc THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH WRIT PETITION NO :4164 of 2006 22nd December, 2009