IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE SIXTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 16936 of 2008 Between: 1 Kagitham Venkateswara Rao S/o. Venkaiah R/o. Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. 2 Tatha Nageswara RAo S/o. Gangaraju R/o. Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. 3 Vaka Ramulu S/o. Venkanna R/o. Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. 4 Tatha Saibabu S/o. Gangaraju R/o. Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. 5 Tatha Sahadevudu S/o. Gangaraju R/o. Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. 6 Suddapalli Krishna S/o. Venkatachary R/o. Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. 7 Tatha Nagaraju S/o. Krishna R/o. Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. 8 Shaik Baji S/o. Suleman R/o. Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 The Panchayat Secretary, Badaralla Village Panchayat, Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. 2 The Tahsildar, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District. .....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, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the 1st respondent in trying to acquire our land by dispossessing us from our houses in R.S.No.615 & 23 of Badaralla Village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District, illegal arbitrary and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents herein not to dispossess us from our houses without due process of law and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.S.APPADHARA REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR PANCHAYAT RAJ & RURAL DEV. The Court made the following : O R D E R:- The petitioners assert that they are the absolute owners and are in possession of the houses in R.S. Nos.615 and 23 situated in Badaralla village, Lingapalem Mandal, West Godavari District for the last 35 years. The petitioners state that the 1st respondent-Panchayat Secreatary, also allotted Door Numbers to their houses and they are regularly paying house tax to the Government, and they are also provided with all basic amenities such as water, electricity connections, etc. Now it is their grievance that the 1st respondent, without issuing any notice, is trying to acquire their lands forcibly and dispossess them from their houses, which is arbitrary and illegal. The 1st respondent filed counter affidavit stating that the petitioners are in occupation of road margins, and even though, they were granted house-site pattas under Indiramma Programme Phase-II, they are not vacating the road margins and as their occupation of the road margins is causing inconvenience to the road users, almost all the villagers made a representation to the Zillaparishad and to the Gram Panchayat to remove the encroachments. Acting on the said the representation, and considering the congestion of the traffic that is being caused by the petitioners by the occupation of the road margins, a notice dated 26.6.2008 was given asking them to vacate the road margin and shift to the newly allotted house-sites within a period of 7 days, but the petitioners, without giving proper reply, filed the present writ petition, and the 1st respondent prays that the same be dismissed. In view of the specific stand taken by the 1st respondent in the counter affidavit that the petitioners were already granted house-site pattas under Indiramma Programma Phase-II and the house-sites are still available for them to construct their houses, and since it is the case of the respondents that the petitioners are said to be encroachers of the road margins belonging to the Zilla Parishad, no direction as prayed for by the petitioners, can be granted. The writ petition is devoid of merits, and the same is accordingly dismissed. The petitioners are directed to vacate the road margins, belonging to the Zilla Parashad, within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, or else the Zilla Parishad is at liberty to remove them. No costs. ______________ N.V.RAMANA, J 3rd June, 2009 bcj