IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY EIGHTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 26410 of 2007 Between: Y.Ravi Kumar, S/o.Late Y.Venkateswara Rao, R/o.H.No.8-2-686/7/7, Rd.No.12 Banjara Hills,Hyd ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Dist Collector R.R Dist 2 Mandal Revenue Officer, Kandukur(M),R.R Dist 3 The Mandal Divisional Officer, Kandukur(M), R.R Dist .....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 writ,order or direction,more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents not to demarcate and lay the road through the lands of the petitioner in Sy.No.154,155,156,62 (p) & 64 (p) of Kothur Village , Kandukur Mandal, Ranga Reddy District by holding the action of the respondents in demarcating the land for laying of road through the land of the petitioner in Sy.No.154,155,156,62 (p) & 64(p)of Kothur Village, Kandukur Mandal, Ranga Reddy District without notice to the petitioner and without following the due process of law as illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional, and opposed to principles of Natural Justice and pass such other order or orders Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.S.MALLA RAO Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO.26410 OF 2007 ORAL ORDER: Questioning the action of the respondents in proceeding with the demarcation and laying of the road through the lands of the petitioner situated in survey Nos.154, 155, 156, 62(P) and 64(P) of Kothur Village, Kandukur Mandal, Ranga Reddy District, without issuing any notice to him and without following the due process of law, he filed the present writ petition. The case of the petitioner is that he is the absolute owner of the lands in question admeasuring Ac.23.28 guntas having purchased the same from his vendor under registered sale deeds dated 02.09.1996 and 31.07.2001, and since then has been in possession and enjoyment thereof, and that his name was mutated in the relevant revenue records, and pattadar pass book was also issued in his favour in respect of the lands in question. While so, in the month of April, 2007, without issuing any notice, and without following the due process of law, the respondents demarcated the lands of the petitioner for laying a road through them. Aggrieved by the said action of the respondents, he filed the present writ petition. Although the matter underwent several adjournments, no counter aﬃdavit is ﬁled on behalf of the respondents. However, today when the matter is taken up for admission, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue produced the relevant ﬁle before this Court for perusal of the same. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner as well as the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue and both of them agreed for disposal of the main writ petition itself at the stage of admission. A perusal of the material annexed to the writ petition as well as the relevant ﬁle produced by the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue makes it clear that there is no dispute as to the title of the petitioner in respect of the lands in question and that some of the villagers of Kothur Village, Kandukur Mandal of Ranga Reddy District made a representation on 19.04.2007 to the Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Kandukur, Ranga Reddy District, informing him as to the inconvenience and hardship being caused to them to reach their wells and sought for laying of a road and on the same day the Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer made an endorsement and forwarded the same to the Mandal Surveyor/ Additional Revenue Inspector for necessary action. On basis of the said endorsement, the Additional Revenue Inspector, Kandukur Mandal has conducted survey of the lands in question and submitted a report to the second respondent- Tahsildar on 02.05.2007 annexing therewith a copy of panchanama recorded therefor mentioning inter alia that boundary stones were also ﬁxed. While the things stand thus, some of the villagers of Kothur Village of Kandukur Mandal have again made a representation on 07.05.2007 to the second respondent-Tahsildar informing him that long back there was a road through the lands in question and to that effect there is a mention in the village map also, but the land covered by the road was grabbed and compound wall is constructed by removing the boundary stones ﬁxed by the Mandal Surveyor, by one Yelamanchili Ravi Kumar, who is the writ petitioner herein, and sought for necessary action to be taken against the concerned. However, the record does not show as to what has happened thereafter. To appreciate the contention of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner that no notice was issued to the petitioner, I have perused the record produced by the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue and a perusal of the same would make it clear that on 23.04.2007 notices were issued to several villagers of Kothur Village including the writ petitioner, but there is nothing in the ﬁle to show that a notice was, in fact, served on the writ petitioner. However, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue tried to justify stating that when notice was sought to be served on the petitioner, he refused to receive the same, but there is no endorsement to that eﬀect in the ﬁle produced by him. It is also not clear as to whether any further steps were taken to serve the notice on the writ petitioner, as is contemplated under the Survey and Boundaries Act. Thus, it becomes clear that there is no notice served on the writ petitioner before conducting any survey and demarcation of the lands in question and, therefore, the survey conducted by the Mandal Surveyor and panchanama recorded by him cannot be sustained. Accordingly, the same are hereby set aside. However, if the respondents intend to conduct any survey and demarcate the lands in question to ascertain as to whether any road existed and passed through the lands in question, they must issue prior notice to the petitioner in the prescribed form as contemplated under the Survey and Boundaries Act and after calling for objections and aﬀording opportunity of hearing, they are at liberty to pass appropriate orders and take action in terms thereof, in accordance with law. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed at the stage of admission to the extent indicated above. No costs. ______________ N.V.RAMANA, J. Date: 28.07.2008 VGSR