THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.13516 of 2006 % Dated 17.09.2008 # Tatikonda Ramulu and others ….Petitioners $ The Land Acquisition Officer and Special Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition Unit, Singareni Collieries, Godavari Khani, Karimnagar District and others. ….Respondents ! Counsel for petitioners: Sri M.Jagannatha Sarma ^Counsel for Respondents 1 to 4: G.P. for Land Acquisition ^Counsel for Respondents 5 : Sri Nandigama Krishna Rao <GIST: > HEAD NOTE: ? Cases referred NIL IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 13516 of 2006 Between: 1 Tatikonda Ramulu S/o. Laxminarsaiah R/o. H.No. 5-31/5, Vakeelpalli, Hamlet of Upparlakesaram Village, Jallaram Gram Panchayat, Kamanpur Mandal, Karimnagar District. 2 Tatikonda Srinivas S/o Ramulu R/o. H.No. 5-31/5, Vakeelpalli, Hamlet of Upparlakesaram Village, Jallaram Gram Panchayat, Kamanpur Mandal, Karimnagar District. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 The Land Acquisition Officer and Special Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition Unit, Singareni Collieries Godavari Khani, Karimnagar District. 2 The District Collector, Karimnagar District. 3 The Joint Collector,(Land Acquisition) Karimnagar District. 4 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by the Additional Secretary, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. 5 The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd., Rep. by its General Manager, Region-II, .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 to issue a writ or order or direction in the nature of a writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to notify Under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 the houses bearing Nos. 5-31/5 and 5-31/6 belonging to petitioners and situated in Vakeelpalli, Hamlet of Upparlakesaram Village under Jallaram Gram Panchayat of Kamanpur Mandal, Karimnagar District for the purpose of awarding compensation under the said act by setting aside memo NO. B2/832/03/ dt. 25-4- 2006 of the ﬁrst respondent and pass such other as this Honourable Court may deem ﬁt and necessary in the interests of the justice and in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.M.JAGANNATHA SARMA Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 13516 of 2006 ORDER: The District Collector, Karimnagar, 2 nd respondent herein issued a notiﬁcation, dated 02.11.2004, proposing to acquire an extent of Ac.23.22 guntas of land together with the structures thereon in Survey Nos.92, 96 and 97 of Upperlakesaram Village, Kamanpur Mandal, for the beneﬁt of M/s. Singareni Collieries Company Limited, 5th respondent herein. The houses belonging to the petitioners herein were also covered by the acquisition. The declaration under Section 6 of the Act was published on 01.08.2005. This was followed by award enquiry. The petitioners have submitted their claims for payment of compensation for their houses. The Land Acquisition Oﬃcer, 1st respondent herein passed an award, dated 02.01.2007, awarding compensation to the acquired land as well as the existing structures. However, he omitted to award any compensation for the houses of the petitioners. The petitioners submitted a representation, dated 08.03.2006, complaining that no compensation was paid for their houses. The 1st respondent issued a memo, dated 25.04.2006, stating that an enquiry was conducted on 22.01.2004 in the Village and in the video coverage, their houses were not found. The petitioners feel aggrieved by the award, insofar as it omits their houses as well as the memo, dated 25.04.2006. They plead that the houses were constructed on the basis of the permission accorded by the Gram Panchayat and there is no basis for the respondents in denying the compensation. The 1st respondent ﬁled a counter aﬃdavit, admitting that the houses of the petitioners were in existence, as on the date of notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Act. He, however, stated that the houses were constructed, on coming to know that the land was going to be acquired. It is also stated that the 5th respondent did not agree for inclusion of the houses in the acquisition proceedings. The 5th respondent also ﬁled counter aﬃdavit, almost on the same lines. In addition, it is stated that though the land and structures were not at all needed for the company, they had to be acquired, on the insistence by the villagers as well as the revenue authorities. Heard Sri M.Jagannatha Sarma, learned counsel for the petitioners, learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition and Sri Nandigama Krishna Rao, learned counsel for the 5th respondent. The petitioners have placed before this Court, a copy of the proceedings, dated 12.01.2003, issued by the Gram Panchayat, according them permission to construct houses. It was only on 04.05.2003, that a requisition had emerged from the 5th respondent for acquisition of the land. By that time, the petitioners have constructed the houses. At any rate, as on the date of notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Act i.e., 02.11.2004, the houses were very much in existence. This is evident from the counter aﬃdavit ﬁled by the 1st respondent. The relevant portion thereof reads as under: “It is submitted that as per the Survey conducted by the Surveyor of this oﬃce there were (170) structures are existing, but as per SCCL, report it is (109) only as they have not taken the trees, Hand pumps, Mosques and Gram Panchayat building at that time (10) structures to be shown in the name of minors and (2) structures to be constructed newly. Finally the list of (171) structures is prepared basing on the two video graphs as accepted by the SCCL, authorities. But the SCCL, authorities i.e., Requisitioning authorities have not accepted the two structures held by the present writ petitioners Sri Thatikonda Ramulu and his Son Srinivas though existing at the time of survey held by the Surveyor are new and that they were having houses at Ladnapur (V) and availed compensation.” The reason for exclusion of the houses either in the notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Act or in the award appears to be that the 5th respondent did not agree for it. The record discloses that the petitioners were residents of a diﬀerent village and on being displaced, they have migrated to another village and constructed houses by obtaining permission of the Gram Panchayat. Therefore, the respondents cannot be permitted to plead any ground of mala ﬁde on the part of the petitioners. Even assuming that the petitioners constructed the houses, after they came to know that the land was going to be acquired, that fact cannot relieve the respondents from their obligation to pay compensation. What becomes material and important is the state of aﬀairs existing as on the date of the publication of notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Act. The respondents are under obligation to pay compensation for anything, that existed as on the date of notiﬁcation. They cannot go into the intention behind the constructions over the acquired land. It has already been pointed out that the houses of the petitioners were very much in existence as on the date of publication of notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Act. Therefore, it is unnecessary for publication of a fresh notiﬁcation to cover the houses. Once the land is acquired, the claim for payment of compensation for the super structures can be subject matter of an award enquiry. Since the award did not include the houses of the petitioners on a wrong assumption, the 1st respondent is directed to pass supplementary award, granting compensation for the houses constructed by the petitioners over the acquired land, within a period of two (2) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. _________ 17.09.2008 Note: L.R.Copy to be marked. (B/o) JSU ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{VSMI} THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 13516 of 2006 Date: 17.09.2008 JSU