IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO:14747 of 1999 Between: 1 Tadipigari Bhaskar s/o. T. Adinarayana Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 2 Tallapalli Hyderwali S/o.Abudl Khader Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 3 Talupula Tirupalu S/O Talupula Nanjappa Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 4 Hachubaigari Gulamwali s/o.H. Khadiri Saab Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 5 Hachubaigari Mahaboiob Basha s/o.H. Basha, Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 6 Hachubaigari Chand Basha s/o.H. Pedda Khadarwali Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 7 Chilakala Badurla s/o. Kasim Saab Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 8 Chilakala Imam Khasim s/o. Kasim Saab Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 9 Hachubaigari Khaderwali s/o. H. Kasim Saab Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 10 Hachubaigari Badumaiah s/o. H. Modin Saab Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 11 Meesala Gangulappa s/o.M. Chinna Chinnappa Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 12 Hachubaigari Jeebhi w/o.Late Kasim Peera, Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 13 Hachubaigari Hussain Mia s/o.H. Madar Saab Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 14 Yakubsagari Anwar w/o.Ajeemun Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 15 Hachubaigari Yamansa s/o.H. Moiddinsa, Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 16 Rallapalli Hussain Peera s/o.Abdul Kadar Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 17 Hachubaigari Mohaboob s/o.H. Kdarvali, Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 18 Chinnakotla Tirupali s/o.C. Narappa Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 19 Sayyadwali s/o.C. Narappa Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 20 Mallela Hyderbi w/o.M. Peera Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 21 Talupula Hydaramma w/o.T. Subbanna Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 22 Talupula Uttamma w/o.T. Pedda Subbanna Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. 23 Mandoji Dowlak Khan s/o.M. Peera Khan Kutagulla village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur district. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector Anantapur. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer Penukonda, Anantapur. 3 The Mandal Revenue Officer kadiri mandal Anantapur district. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.KARNAM RAMESH Counsel for the Respondents:AGP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following : ORDER: At the interlocutory stage, this writ petition is taken up for hearing and disposal with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties. Heard Sri K.Ramesh, learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition and perused the record. The lands admeasuring Acs.25.19 cents and Acs.10.00 cents in Survey Nos.407-2H, 407-11, 407-10 and 407-6 of Kutagulla Village, Kadiri Mandal, Anantapur District were proposed for acquisition for the purpose of providing house- sites to weaker sections. Three similar notiﬁcations covering the lands admeasuring Acs.10.00 cents, Acs.10.00 cents and Acs.5.19 cents in Survey Nos.407-11, 407-10 and 407-6 respectively were issued for the same purpose. It is mentioned in the said notiﬁcations that the District Collector authorized the Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Penukonda to perform the duties of holding enquiry under Section 5A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act’). In respect of an extent of Acs.10.00 cents of land in Survey No.407-2H, the District Collector issued declaration under Section 6 of the Act. Questioning the said notiﬁcations and the declaration, the petitioners, who claim interest over the said lands, ﬁled the present writ petition. In view of the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners that no enquiry under Section 5A of the Act was conducted, the learned Assistant Government Pleader was asked to produce record on previous occasions, when the case was taken up. Today, the learned Assistant Government Pleader produced the record. On going through the record, she conceded that no enquiry has been conducted on the ground that the petitioners were not found to be owners of the property and that the properties were wakf properties in respect of which consent was given by the concerned wakf. I am not able to countenance this submission of the learned Assistant Government Pleader. When once notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Act is issued envisaging holding of enquiry under Section 5A of the Act, the respondents are duty bound in law to hold enquiry. On the basis of a unilateral conclusion that the lands do not belong to the petitioners, they cannot dispense with the mandatory requirement of holding enquiry under Section 5A of the Act. It is not the case of the respondents that enquiry under Section 5A of the Act has been dispensed with by invoking their power under Section 17(4) of the Act. Far from that, all the three notiﬁcations clearly envisaged holding of enquiry. In this view of the matter, the action of the respondents in not holding enquiry under Section 5A of the Act cannot be sustained. The writ petition is accordingly allowed. Declaration issued under Section 6 of the Act is quashed. The respondents are directed to hold enquiry under Section 5A of the Act and give the petitioners an opportunity of ﬁling objections and personal hearing, before seeking to proceed further with the proposed acquisition. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 16th SEPTEMBER, 2008. kvni