IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE FOURTH OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI ANIL R. DAVE, THE CHIEF JUSTICE and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 11725 of 2007 Between: K.S.P.Prasad S/o.Satyanarayana Kowthavarma village, Gudlavalleru mandal Krishna District ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, rep.by its Principal secretary,Revenue Department, Hyderabad 2 The District Collector, Krishna District 3 The Revenue Divisional officer, Gudivada Mandal Krishna 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 to issue an appropriate writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in assigning the subject land being the burial ground to others as being illegal, unjust arbitrary, discriminatory and unconstitutional being in violation of Arts.14,21 & 300-A of the constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to restore the burial ground to its original position as has been used earlier and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.P.HEMACHANDRA Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : ORAL ORDER: (Per Sri Anil R. Dave, CJ) This is a public interest litigation wherein a grievance has been made to the effect that respondent No.2 has allotted some land in favour of certain persons so that the beneficiaries can construct their houses. It has been further submitted that the land which has been allotted and which is also to be allotted was being used as a burial ground and upon grant of the land in question in favour of the beneficiaries, there will not be any burial ground in the village. In the circumstances, it has been prayed that the orders whereby the land has been granted be quashed and no land be granted from the burial ground. In pursuance of the notice issued by this Court, the learned Government Pleader has placed on record a counter affidavit filed by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Gudivada. It has been submitted by the deponent of the counter-affidavit that the land which has been referred to in the petition has now been converted from Poramboke to Assessed Waste Dry land and the land in question has not been earmarked as a burial ground. It has been submitted that there are several other burial grounds in or near the village and the details with regard to those burial grounds have been given in para 3 of the counter-affidavit. Looking to the aforestated facts recorded in the counter-affidavit filed by respondent No.3, in our opinion, the grievance ventilated in the petition is not well founded. The land in question has not been earmarked as a burial ground and, therefore, it would be open for the concerned authorities to grant the same in accordance with law. Moreover, it is clear from the counter-affidavit that the land in question was never used as a burial ground. Looking to the facts, we do not see any substance in the petition and the petition is disposed of as rejected with no order as to costs. _____________________________ ANIL R. DAVE, CJ _______________________________ RAMESH RANGANATHAN, J 4th February, 2009. GRR