IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 27114 of 2003 Between: K.J.Nagabhushanarao Naidu, S/o K.J.Subbarajula Naidu, R/o Palace, Palace Road, Kuppam Village & Mandal, Chittoor District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Kuppam Mandal, Kuppam, Chittoor District. 2 The District Collector, Chittoor District at Chittoor. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.D.SESHADRI NAIDU Counsel for the Respondents: AGP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed for a writ of mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in not issuing pattedar passbooks to the petitioner in respect of Acs.230.34 cents of land situated in Paimash No.57 P of Kangundi Revenue Village, Kuppam Mandal, Chittoor District as illegal and arbitrary. The petitioner claimed that he is one of the legal heirs of late Zamindar of Kuppam and being the grandson, he stated that in respect of an extent of Acs.529.34 cents of land, which was classified as forest poramboke, he and other legal heirs approached the Forest Settlement Officer, Chittoor vide Rc.No.84/64 claiming pattas after changing the classification. He claimed that after an elaborate enquiry, the Forest Settlement Officer, Chittoor passed order, dated 06.01.1968 upholding their claim and declaring the scheduled land as private property of the petitioner and his other family members; that against the said order, the Divisional Forest Officer, Chittoor filed appeal in the District Court, Chittoor in A.S.No.80 of 1968 and that the said appeal was dismissed on 14.03.1972. It is further averred that against the said judgment, W.P.No.4377 of 1973 was filed by respondent No.2 and this Court disposed of the same by remanding the matter to the Forest Settlement Officer, Chittoor for the disposal of the case afresh and that the Forest Settlement Officer, Nellore, to whom the case was evidently transferred, disposed of the matter on merits by order, dated 20.12.1977 directing exclusion of the extent of Acs.529.34 cents from Kangundi Block in Kuppam taluk of Chittoor District and requested the Divisional Forest Officer, Chittoor to get the said order implemented by sending the revised sketches with necessary field book. The petitioner further averred that in pursuance of the said order, the Divisional Forest Officer, Chittoor issued proceedings, dated 18.03.1980 directing the Forest Range Officer to exclude Acs.529.34 cents from Kangundi block and that in pursuance of the said proceedings, the Forest Range Officer implemented the same on 04.09.1980 revising the field sketch by mutating the revenue records after exclusion of the said extent from the forest block. The petitioner claims that in the family partition, land of an extent of Acs.230.34 cents known as Kasuvuvamibanda Chenu in Survey No.57 of Kangundi revenue accounts fell to his share and in order to obtain pattadar passbook and title deeds, he filed an application before respondent No.1. As he failed to pass an order on his application, he got legal notice, dated 24.12.2001 issued to the respondents and as no action was forthcoming from them, he filed the present writ petition. No counter-affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondents. At the hearing, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue, on instructions, stated that the proceedings of the Forest Settlement Officer were questioned in appeal before the Director of Settlements of Andhra Pradesh and that he set aside the said order and remanded the matter to Joint Collector cum Settlement Officer for a de novo enquiry. She further stated that the petitioner was unsuccessful in questioning the said order in revision before the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad and in pursuance of the order of the Director of Settlements, a fresh enquiry was held and after hearing the parties, the Joint Collector cum Settlement Officer passed an order on 17.03.2004 under Section 63 of the Estates Abolition Act, 1948 treating the land as forest land. Sri D.Seshadri Naidu, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the facts stated by the learned Assistant Government Pleader are not in the knowledge of the petitioner in the absence of any counter- affidavit having been filed by the respondents. He also pointed out that the purported order, dated 17.03.2004 claimed to have been passed by the Settlement Officer cum Joint Collector, Chittoor is subsequent to the filing of the writ petition. Having considered the facts pleaded by the learned counsel for the respective parties and in the light of the specific stand taken by the respondents that the order of the Settlement Officer was set aside subsequently, it is not possible for this Court to direct the respondents to give effect to the earlier order of the Settlement Officer. However, for reasons, which are not forthcoming, the respondents failed to file the counter-affidavit putting the petitioner to a distinct disadvantage of meeting various contentions advanced by the learned Assistant Government Pleader on instructions. Under these circumstances, without going into the merits of the case, I deem it appropriate to permit the petitioner to avail appropriate remedy if an order adverse to his interests was passed subsequent to the filing of this writ petition. The petitioner is permitted to approach Joint Collector cum Settlement Officer to furnish copies of the order said to have been passed by him and within a period of two (2) weeks from the date of the petitioner making his application, the Joint Collector, Chittoor shall furnish the required copies. On receipt of the same, the petitioner is given liberty to question the said order before the appropriate forum. Subject to the above observations, the writ petition is disposed of. As a sequel to disposal of main petition, WPMP.No.34357 of 2003 filed by the petitioner for interim relief is disposed of as infructuous. C.V.NARAGJUNA REDDY, J 16th June, 2008. kvni