IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 23924 of 2008 Between: 1 Smt.Mangala Ben Patel W/o.Sri Gangaram Patel R/o. Flat No.11/1, Seshu Towers, Balayya Sastry Layout, Seethammadhara, Visakhapatnam. 2 Smt.Hira Ben Patel W/o.Sri Amrit Lal Patel R/o.Hari Om Nivas, D.No.49-51-6/1, Shanthipuram, Visakhapatnam. 3 Smt.Vanitha Patel W/o.Sri Dilip Patel R/o.Hari Om Nivas, D.No.49-51-6/1, Shanthipuram, Visakhapatnam. 4 Smt.Laxmi Ben Patel W/o.Sri Dhamji Patel, R/o.Hari Om Nivas, D.No.49-51-6/1, Shanthipuram, Visakhapatnam. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Srikakulam, Srikakulam District. 2 The Tahsildar, Ranasthalam Mandal, Srikakulam District. .....RESPONDENTS 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 issue writ or order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the orders passed by the 2nd respondent vide proceedings Rc.No.200/2007-A dated 10.04.2008 evicting and resumption of the lands of the petitioners situated at Bontupally Village, Ranasthalam Mandal, Srikakulam District, as illegal, arbitrary, untenable, violative of Article 14, 21 and 300-A of the Constitution of India and contrary to the A.P. Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers), Rules and consequently set aside the same and pass such other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.G.TUHIN KUMAR Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled by the petitioners aggrieved by the action of the 1st respondent – Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Srikakulam in not passing any orders either on the interim application or in the main appeal ﬁled by them on 9.6.2008 against the resumption orders passed by the 2nd respondent – Tahsildar, Ranasthalam Mandal, Srikakulam District dated 10.4.2008. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader for Revenue and at their request the writ petition is taken up for ﬁnal disposal at the admission stage itself. It is the case of the petitioners that they are the absolute owners and possessors of diﬀerent extents of land totaling to Ac.9.67 cents situated at Bontupally Village, Ranasthalam Mandal, Srikakulam District having purchased the same under registered sale deeds on 12.10.2006 and since then they are in continuous possession and enjoyment of the said land. While the matters stood thus, the 2nd respondent issued notice in Form-II under Rule 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Rules, 2007 on the ground that the petitioners purchased the assigned lands in controvention of the provisions of sub- section (2) of Section 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1997 (for short ‘the Act’). To the said notice, it is stated that the petitioners submitted their explanation but the 2nd respondent without properly considering their explanation, has passed the resumption orders on 10.4.2008 under Section 4(1)(A) of the Act. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioners ﬁled statutory appeal before the 1st respondent along with interlocutory application seeking stay of the orders passed by the 2nd respondent. The grievance of the petitioners is that though they ﬁled the appeal on 9.6.2008, the 1st respondent has not passed any orders either on the stay application or in the main appeal itself and taking advantage of the situation, the authorities are trying to implement the orders of the 2nd respondent by evicting the petitioners from the subject matter of lands. A perusal of the appeal stated to have been ﬁled by the petitioners shows that it is not a regular appeal but only a representation given to the 1st respondent. Therefore, the petitioners are directed to ﬁle a proper appeal before the 1st respondent against the resumption orders passed by the 2nd respondent within a period of four weeks from today. On such an appeal being ﬁled by the petitioners, the 1st respondent – Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Srikakulam shall consider the same and pass orders in accordance with law. Status quo obtaining as on date shall be maintained for a period of four weeks from today. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. N.V.RAMANA,J Dt.04.11.2008 msv