IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE SECOND DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO:16032 of 2004 Between: 1 Battula Purnachandra Rao, Hindu, S/o Kotaiah, 2 Battula Srinivasa Rao, Hindu, S/o Kotaiah, 3 Dodda Venkata Subba Rao, Hindu, S/o Kotaiah, 4 Gadde Sambasiva Rao, Hindu, S/o Lakshmaiah, 5 Gadde Seshaiah, Hindu, S/o Lakshmaiah, 6 Devarakonda Sreeramulu, Hindu, S/o Venkata Subbaiah, 7 Devarakonda Rama Rao, Hindu, S/o Venkata Subbaiah, 8 Gutta Subba Rao, Hindu, S/o Chandraiah, 9 Gutta Sreeravamma, Hindu, W/o Masthanu, 10 Cherukuri Vimalamma,Hindu, W/o Venkateswarlu, 11 Chadalavada Bhujanga Rao, Hindu, W/o Venkateswarlu, 12 Muvva Venkateswarlu, Hindu, s/o Thirupathaiah, 13 Nelluri Venkateswarlu, Hindu, S/o Radha Krishna Murthy, 14 Poluri Nagendram, Hindu, W/o Peraiah, 15 Konidela Anjaneyulu, Hindu, W/o Guravaiah, All the Petitioners are r/o Annambotlavaripalem, Parchuru Mandal, Prakasam District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector, Collectorate , Social Welfare Department, Prakasam District, Ongole. 2 Revenue Divisional Officer, Prakasam District, Ongole. 3 Mandal Revenue Officer, Parchuru Mandal, Parchuru Post, Prakasam District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:SMT.V.DYUMANI Counsel for the Respondents: AGP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of mandamus to declare the inaction of the respondents in complying with the direction of this Court and the Supreme Court in granting house-site pattas to the petitioners as illegal. An extent of Acs.9.40 cents of land in Survey No.25/10 of Garnepudi Village, Prakasam District was acquired by the respondents for providing house-sites to the eligible persons belonging to weaker sections. The landowners successfully questioned the acquisition proceedings in this Court. However, in the Civil Appeal ﬁled by the Government, the Supreme Court by it’s judgment, dated 28.11.1995 upheld the said proceedings and made the following observations: “It is made clear that if any allotment is made to any person other than those belonging to weaker section, the Collector should take immediate action against those persons and cancel the allotments. In other words, allotments should be made only to the persons belonging to the weaker section in terms of notiﬁcation and Government instructions in that behalf.” The petitioners speciﬁcally averred in their aﬃdavit that they all belong to weaker sections and are eligible for grant of assignments. They pleaded that in 1983, the Government identiﬁed 54 persons as eligible for grant of house-sites out of 121 applicants and in 1995 the Government identiﬁed 66 out of 152 applicants, as eligible. According to them, petitioners 1 to 7 were included in the list of 54 eligible persons identiﬁed in 1983 and petitioners 8 to 15 were included among 66 eligible persons identiﬁed in 1995. The grievance of the petitioners is that out of 120 persons so identiﬁed in 1983 and 1995, the Government granted pattas only in favour of 105 persons leaving the petitioners alone without granting pattas. In the counter-aﬃdavit ﬁled by the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Parchur Mandal, Prakasam District (respondent No.3), he admitted that the petitioners were identiﬁed as eligible beneﬁciaries in 1983 and 1995 respectively and that on the complaints received from many people that ineligible persons were included in the beneﬁciaries list, a detailed enquiry was conducted, in which, it was found that out of 120 identiﬁed beneﬁciaries, only 83 beneﬁciaries were eligible and accordingly, pattas were issued to 34 beneﬁciaries on 05.05.2000 and 49 beneﬁciaries on 21.06.2000. It is stated that among the petitioners, petitioner Nos.9 and 14 were found eligible by the then Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer and subsequently 37 house-site plots were assigned to the eligible beneﬁciaries during 2002-04 without leaving any vacant plot and physical possession was also given to them. It is also stated that while petitioner No.1 was not residing in the Village for the last 15 years as he was residing in Tikkireddypalem Village of Prattipadu Mandal, Guntur District, petitioners 2 to 4, 6 and 7 were also found to be non- residents of Annambotlavaripalem Village. It is further stated that though pattas were prepared in favour of petitioners Nos.1 to 4, 6 and 7, they were cancelled after following the procedure and orders were served on them by substitute service and that the remaining petitioners except petitioner Nos.9 and 14, were found ineligible during the enquiry conducted in 2000 and accordingly, they were not issued pattas. With regard to petitioner Nos.9 and 14, it is stated that in the enquiry conducted in August, 2004, it was found that petitioner No.9 owned house-site of her own and petitioner No.14 owned thatched house at Annambotlavaripalem Village with Assessment No.7 and hence, they were found ineligible. From the averments contained in the counter-aﬃdavit, as noted above, it is evident that the respondents admitted that the names of the petitioners were included in one or the other list of eligible beneﬁciaries prepared in 1983 and 1995. It is also admitted that pattas were prepared in favour of petitioners Nos.1 to 4, 6 and 7, but they were cancelled. Though it is vaguely claimed that enquiries were conducted to decide the eligibility and all the petitioners except petitioner Nos.9 and 14, were found ineligible, no details of such enquiries have been mentioned. No material is placed in support of the plea that the pattas prepared in the names of petitioner Nos.1 to 4, 6 and 7 were cancelled after giving an opportunity of hearing to them. In respect of petitioner Nos.5, 8, 10 to 13 and 15, no reasons were mentioned in the counter-aﬃdavit to hold them ineligible for grant of pattas. Admittedly, when the names of the petitioners were included in the beneﬁciaries’ lists, the respondents ought to have given them a reasonable opportunity to satisfy that they are eligible, before deleting their names from the list of eligible beneficiaries. From the pleadings contained on record, I am of the view that the respondents have not followed the procedure in declaring the petitioners as ineligible for grant of house- sites. Under these circumstances, respondent No.2 is directed to hold an enquiry into the eligibility of the petitioners by giving them notice to produce necessary documents in support of their claim of eligibility. If it is found that the petitioners are eligible, they shall be provided house-sites either from the land left over, if any in an extent of Acs.9.40 cents of land in Survey No.25/10, which was acquired for providing house-sites, or at some other place in the Village, if necessary by acquiring the land for this purpose. Respondent No.2 shall complete this exercise within a period of four (4) months from today. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 2nd SEPTEMBER, 2008. kvni