IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE THIRTIETH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 20317 of 2008 Between: 1 Ch. R.K. Chodary S/o. Ch. Sri Hari Committee, R/o. Kaleru Village, Kapileswarapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 2 G. Veerabhadra Rao S/o. Rama Rao Committee, R/o. G. Medapadu Village, Samarlakota' East Godavari District. 3 K. Sudhakara ReddyS/o. Gopala Krishna Reddy Committee, R/o. Pandalapaka Village, Biccavolu Mandal, East Godavari District. 4 R. Brahmana Chowdary, Committee, R/o. Vallurivari Veedhi, Mandapeta, East Godavari District. 5 Jampana Rama RajuS/o. Satyanarayan Raju Committee, R/o. D.No. 4-1-42/1, SBI Colony, Bupayya Agraharam, Amalapuram,.East Godavari District. 6 Sathi Venkataratnam S/o. Gopalakrishna Committee, R/o. Savarapupalem Village, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 7 Ch. Brahmananda Rao S/o. Subba Rao Committee, R/o. Vemavaam Village, I. Polavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 8 P. Raja Rao S/o. Ramaswamy, Distributory Committee, R/o. Pasupalli Village, Vanapalli Post, Ambajipeta Mandal, East Godavari District. 9 B. Pattabhiramaiah S/o. Subrahmanyeswara Rao Distributory Committee, R/o. Vemulavada Village, Karapa Mandal, East Godavari District. 10 P. Venkateswara Rao Distributory Committee, R/o. 50-1-24, Ratnam Complex, Main Road, Kakianada 11 S.V. Subba Raju S/o. Venkateswara Rao Distributory Committee, R/o. Injaram Village, Tallarevu Mandal, East Godavari District. 12 Ch. S.V. Satyanarayana @ Garala Abbu 65 Distributory Committee, Kandulapalem VIllage, Ramachandrapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 13 P. Venkataramana S/o. Appa Rao Distributory Committee, R/o. Pithanivaripalem Village, Ravulapalem Mandal, East Godavari District. 14 Ch. Rama Subba Rao Distributory Committee, R/o. Yendagandi Village, K. Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 15 P. Satya Rao S/o. Reddaiah Distributory Committee, R/o. Meraka Veedhi, Unduru Village, Samarlakota Mandal, East Godavari District. 16 A. Venkata Musalaiah S/o. Narsimha Rao Distributory Committee, R/o. 2-283, Gollavilli Village, Uppalaguptham Mandal, East Godavari District. 17 Yenamala Rama Rao S/o. China Somanna Distributory Committee, R/o. A.V. Nagaram Village, Thondangi Mandal, East Godavari District. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 The Government of A.P. Rep by its Principal Secretary, Department of Irrigation & Command Area Development (GENL.IV.I) Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Commissioner, CADA, Jala Soudha Buildings, Hyderabad. 3 The District Collector, East Godavari District, Kakinada. .....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 by declaring the Impugned G.O.Rt. No. 1230, Irrigation and Command Area Development (GENERAL,IV) Department, dated 11- 09-2008 passed by the 1st respondent wherein postponing the elections to project committees of Godavari Central and Eastern Delta Area scheduled to be held on 12-9-2008 to 17-10-2008 without any reasonable cause as illegal arbitrary, and contrary to the Spirit and object to Section 19 of the A.P Farmers Management of Irrigation Systems Act 1997 and consequentially direct the 1st respondent to conduct the elections immediately and to pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.KANAKAMEDALA RAVINDRA KUMAR Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR IRRIGATION & COMM AREA DEV. The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 20317 of 2008 ORAL ORDER This writ petition is ﬁled seeking a declaration that the impugned proceedings vide G.O.Rt.No.1230, Irrigation and Command Area Development (General-IV) Department, dated.11- 09-2008 thereby postponing the elections to the project committees of Godavari Central and Eastern Delta Area scheduled to be held on 12-09-2008 on the ground that requests have been received from the public representatives and farmers that delineation of Godavari Central and Eastern Delta Area is not proper and to revise the delineation as arbitrary and illegal. An identical issue was considered by this Court in Gurazala Siva Prasad and others Vs. Government of A.P., rep. by its Principal Secretary, Irrigation and & CAD Department and others([1]) and after considering all the relevant provisions it was held that it is not open to the Government to postpone the elections on any ground other than the grounds available under Rules.37 and 40 of A.P. Farmers Management of Irrigation Systems (Conduct of Elections) Rules, 2003. The ratio laid down in the above case is squarely applicable to the facts of the present case and therefore the impugned action of postponement of election on the ground specified therein is liable to be declared as illegal. However, keeping in view that even as per the impugned order, the elections are now scheduled to be held on 17- 10-2008, the writ petition is disposed of directing the respondents to hold the elections as scheduled on 17-10-2008 without fail starting the election process from the stage where it was stopped. No order as to costs. _________ G.ROHINI,J 30th September,2008 *TSNR [1] 2006(3) ALT 384