IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 3668 of 2001 Between: 1 P.Pratapreddy, S/o. Mohanreddy, R/o. Kompally Village, Qutbullahpur Mandal, Ranga Reddy District. 2 P.Praveenreddy, S/o. Mohanreddy, R/o. Kompally Village, Qutbullahpur Mandal, Ranga Reddy District. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Secretary, Revenue Department, Secretatriat Buildings, Hyderabad. 2 ANDHRA PRADESH TRANSCO, Rep. by its Chairman and Managing Director, Vidyut Soudha, Hyderabad. 3 The Superintending Engineer (Transmission), Andhra Pradesh Transco, R.R.Zone, Mint Compound, Hyderabad. .....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 an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly a writ in the nature of Mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents in erecting the hi-tension electricity lines through the lands of the petitioners situated in S.Nos.130 and 131 of Kardlakoi Village of Medchal Mandal, R.R.District to an extent of Ac.1.31 gts. And Ac.1.00 gts., belonging to the petitioners without acquiring the same as being illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles 21 and 300-A of the Contitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to pay the compensation forthwith as per the prevailing market rate and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.S.ASHOK ANAND KUMAR Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.3668 of 2001 O R D E R: The relief sought for in this writ petition is to declare the action of the respondents in erecting the hi-tension electricity lines through the petitioners lands situated in S.Nos.130 and 131 of Kardlakoi village of Medchal Mandal, Rangareddy District of an extent of Ac.1.31 gts and Ac.1.00 gts without acquiring the same as arbitrary and violative of Articles 21 and 300-A of the Constitution of India and, consequently, direct the respondents to pay compensation forthwith as per the prevailing market rates. In B.KRISHNA MANDADI AND OTHERS v POWER GRID CORPORATION OF INDIA LIMITED, HYDERABAD AND OTHERS [1], this court, on a detailed examination of the various provisions of the Electricity Supply Act and the Indian Electricity Act and relying on the earlier judgments of this court in H.BHADUR SINGH v APSEB[2], BHASKARA HOUSING (P) LTD. v A.P.S.E.B. [3] and the Madras High Court in SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER v THANGAPRAKASAM[4], held that Section 42 of the Electricity Act and Section 10 of the Telegraph Act did not obligate the Electricity Boards to acquire lands belonging to any person over which hi-tension lines were erected provided, of course, no damage was caused to any crop. Following the said judgments, it must be held that the second respondent is not obligated to acquire the land of the petitioners on which hi-tension lines were erected. It is, however, made clear that in case the petitioners have suﬀered any damage to the standing crops on account of such hi-tension lines being laid, it is always open to them to claim compensation for such damage in accordance with law. Subject to the above directions, the writ petition is dismissed. No order as to costs. _________________________ RAMESH RANGANATHAN,J 5th November, 2008. PNV [1] 2003(5) ALD 194 [2] 1991(1) ALT 7 [3] 1998(6) ALT 436 [4] AIR 1999 Madras 365