THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO.19457 OF 2010 DATED 29TH MARCH, 2011 BETWEEN B.Raja Reddy and others …Petitioners and The Gram Panchayat Office, Rep. by its Panchayat Secretary, Ibrahimpatnam, Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, Karimnagar District and others. …Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO.19457 OF 2010 ORDER: The petitioners claim to be in possession of various extents of land in Ibrahimpatnam Village, abutting the R&B Road leading from SRSP Canal to Kojan Kothur, in Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, Karimnagar District. Their complaint is that for the purpose of widening the said road, the respondents were interfering with their possession over the subject lands without following the due procedure under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994. This Court, by order dated 09.02.2010, directed the respondents not to dispossess the petitioners from their lands otherwise than by due process of law, in the event the same were required for the purpose of road widening. The Panchayat Secretary, Ibrahimpatnam, the first respondent, stated in his counter that the petitioners and others had encroached upon the R&B road by constructing houses/ shops. Due to the same the width of the road is stated to have been drastically reduced causing inconvenience to the flow of traffic. The Gram Panchayat passed a resolution on 19.05.2010 to remove the said illegal encroachments and widen the R&B from Sriram Sagaram Project Canal to Kojan Kothur Road. He further stated that the Gram Panchayat would follow the due procedure laid down by law for removal of the encroachments, giving due opportunity to the affected parties. Reference is made to Section 98 of the Andhra Pradesh Gram Panchayat Act, 1994 which deals with encroachments over public roads vesting in the Gram Panchayat. In the light of the stand taken by the respondent Gram Panchayat, as reflected in the counter of its Panchayat Secretary, it is clear that the apprehensions of the petitioners that the respondents were proposing to act in violation of the law are unfounded. The Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of recording the stand of the Panchayat Secretary, Ibrahimpatnam Gram Panchayat, Karimnagar District, that the encroachments, if any, made by the petitioners, shall be dealt with strictly in accordance with the due procedure laid down by law, after giving due notice and opportunity of hearing to them. In the circumstances, there shall be no order as to costs. ____________________ SANJAY KUMAR, J. 29TH MARCH, 2011. VGSR/PGS