THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION No. 5771 of 2004 Date: 29.11.2011 Between: K.Lachaiah and another … Petitioners And The Joint Collector, Adilabad and 3 others. … Respondents THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION No.5771 OF 2004 O R D E R: The petitioners claim to have been in possession and enjoyment of 10 acres of land situated in Sy.No.21/K (old) corresponding to Sy.No.21/31 (new) of Dasnapur Village and Mandal, Adilabad District from the year 1950. They were also granted patta certificates in respect of the said land assigning 5 acres each to the petitioners vide proceedings of the Tahsildar, dated 19.9.1961. It is stated that the petitioners have been in continuous possession of the above said land by raising paddy, jowar, redgram and etc. They had earlier filed W.P.No.18973 of 2002 aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the respondents in protecting their possession from certain encroachers. The said writ petition was disposed of by this Court by order dated 30.09.2002 directing the respondents not to evict the petitioners without initiating appropriate proceedings. It is stated that though initially the names of the petitioners were entered in the revenue records as owners and possessors, they came to know that the said land was converted as khariz katha (Government land) in the revenue records in the year 1979 on the basis of the proceedings, dated 2.3.1979 under which their assignments were stated to be cancelled. Immediately thereafter the petitioners approached the 1st respondent – Joint Collector. However, the 1st respondent by proceedings dated 31.5.2003 while declining to interfere, directed the Mandal Revenue Officer to assign some other suitable land to the petitioners. Aggrieved by the said order, dated 31.5.2003 passed by the 1st respondent, the present writ petition is filed. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioners as well as the learned Government pleader for Revenue appearing for the respondents. Despite notice, no counter-affidavit is filed by the respondents. Apart from various contentions advanced on merits, the impugned order has been assailed by the writ petitioners primarily on the ground that the said order was passed without conducting any enquiry as directed by this Court in W.P.No.18973 of 2002 and without giving them an opportunity of being heard. A perusal of the impugned order shows that the conclusions therein were arrived at solely on the basis of the report submitted by the Mandal Revenue Officer, Adilabad. Though the presence of the writ petitioners was recorded, none of their contentions were considered. As noticed above, the specific plea of the petitioners is that there was no notice and no opportunity of being heard was given to them before passing the impugned order. Since no counter-affidavit is filed by the respondents, the said plea of the petitioners remained uncontroverted and therefore the same shall be taken to have been admitted. Consequently, the impugned order being in violation of the fundamental principles of natural justice is liable to be set aside on that ground alone. Accordingly, the impugned order dated 31.05.2003 is hereby set aside and the Writ Petition is disposed of with a direction to the 1st respondent to pass appropriate orders afresh following due process of law as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of three months from the date of receipt of this order. Till such time, status quo obtaining as on today shall be maintained. No costs. _____________ G. ROHINI, J Date: 29.11.2011 klp