IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO:18488 of 2000 Between: G.Venkaiah Naidu S/o.Ramanaidu R/o.South Amluru, Thotapally Gurudu(M), Nellore District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Executive Engineer, Panchayat Raj, Department, Panukonda, Ananthapur District. 2 The Asst. Executive Engineer, Panchayat Raj Department, Kothacheruvu, Ananthapur District. 3 The Vice Chairman, Sri Sathya Sai Urban Development Authority, Puttaparthy, Ananthapur District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:NONE APPEARED Counsel for the Respondents:NONE APPEARED The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in seeking to dispossess the petitioner from the land admeasuring Ac.0.32 cents in Survey Nos.295/3 and 295/4 of Puttaparthy Village and Mandal, Ananthapur District without following due process of law, as illegal and arbitrary. At the hearing, no one appeared for the parties. I have perused the record. In his aﬃdavit, the petitioner averred that he and his family members of the petitioner are absolute owners of the above-mentioned land having purchased the same under registered sale deed, dated 08.08.1995. The grievance of the petitioner is that the respondents are taking steps to lay a road over the said land without initiating any legal process to acquire the same. No counter-aﬃdavit is ﬁled controverting the averments contained in the aﬃdavit. It is, therefore, reasonable to accept the plea of the petitioner that he and his family members are the owners of the above-mentioned extent of the land and that the respondents are seeking to lay a road without following due process of law. The law is well settled that the property of a citizen cannot be taken over by the State without following due process of law and paying compensation, which is equal to the market value existing at the time of acquisition of the property. In this view of the matter, the writ petition is allowed. The respondents are restrained from dispossessing the petitioner from the property in question without following due process of law. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 15th OCTOBER, 2008. kvni