IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE SEVENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.16048 of 2004 Between: Madivi Laxmaiah, S/o.Deva, R/o.Ramachandrampadu, Murumuru Panchayath, Bhadrachalam Mandal, Khammam Dist. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Forest Range officer, Koonavaram, Khammam Dist. 2 The Divisional Forest officer, Bhadrachalam, Khammam Dist. 3 The Project officer, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Bhadrachalam, Khammam Dist. 4 Government of A.P.rep.by Prl.Secretary, Social Welfare Secretariat, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENTS 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 issue an order, direction or writ, more particularly in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring that the action of the ﬁrst and second respondents in setting on ﬁre and destroying the huts of the petitioner and all the other residents of the Gotti Koya hamlet of Ramachandrampadu, Bhadrachalam mandal, on 9/4/2004 and again setting on ﬁre the huts set up by the said Gotti Koya Tribes at Thati Lanka, Chintoor Mandal, on 3/7/2004, without notice, lawful cause or authority, is unlawful and arbitrary, and further directing the respondents to regularise the habitation or rehabilitate the residents in accordance with law before undertaking any further steps to evict the said Gotti Koya tribes again from the temporary shelters set up at Ramachandrampadu, and pass such other order or orders as this Hon’ble Court deems ﬁt and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioner:SRI K.BALAGOPAL Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR FORESTS The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.16048 of 2004 ORDER: The petitioner is a tribal belonging to Gutta Koya*. He ﬁled the instant writ petition on behalf of other villagers of Ramachandrampadu, Hamlet of Murumuru Revenue Village, Bhadrachalam Mandal in Khammam District, seeking a direction to the respondents to regularize the habitation or rehabilitate the residents in accordance with law and also seeking a declaration that the action of respondent Nos.1 and 2 in demolishing the huts of the tribals as illegal and arbitrary. The writ petition was ﬁled based on various provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and the National Forest Policy. This Court while admitting the writ petition directed the respondents not to destroy the huts put up by the petitioner and others. Subsequently, the interim order was made absolute on 21.06.2005. The matter is heard today. Learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Forests made their submissions. Both of them brought to the notice of this Court the Scheduled Tribes & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (the Act, for brevity), which has come into force with eﬀect from 01.01.2008. The Act confers various forest rights (as enumerated in Section 3 of the Act) on all those tribal persons who occupied forest land on or before 13.12.2005. There cannot be any doubt that all the petitioners occupied the forest land long ago, and therefore, they are certainly entitled for all the rights enumerated in Section 3(1) of the Act. However, it is brought to the notice of this court that the Act has been challenged before this Court in a writ petition, and the Division Bench while admitting the writ petition passed interim orders directing the forest Oﬃcials not to evict or demolish the structures raised by the tribals and also directed that trees shall not be fell and pattas shall not be granted. The Division Bench also allowed the process of determination of forest rights of claimants to go on. In that view of the matter, the petitioner and others can request the Forest Rights Committee and Gram Sabha to process their claims. In view of the Division Bench orders, needless to mention, the petitioner and others cannot be evicted, nor their huts can be demolished. The Writ Petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs. _____________ (V.V.S.RAO, J) 07.11.2008 vs To 1 The Forest Range officer, Koonavaram, Khammam Dist. 2 The Divisional Forest officer, Bhadrachalam, Khammam Dist. 3 The Project officer, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Bhadrachalam, Khammam Dist. 4 The Principal Secretary, Government of A.P., Social Welfare Secretariat, Hyderabad. 5 2CCs to G.P. for Forests, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad. 6 2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{JA} * Gutta Koya is recognized as Scheduled Tribe under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, as amended by Parliament Central Act No.10 of 2003.