IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No: 18323 of 2008 Between: 1.Kunkati Peda Venkatesu S/o. Mukkaiah R/o. P. Ankapalem Village, Jeelugumalli Mandal, W.G. District. 2.Kunkati Ramulu S/o. Mukkaiah R/o. P. Ankapalem Village, Jeelugumalli Mandal, W.G. District. 3.Kunkati Ganga Raju S/o. Mukkaiah R/o. P. Ankapalem Village, Jeelugumalli Mandal, W.G. District. 4.Kunkati Brahmadevudu S/o. Mukkaiah R/o. P. Ankapalem Village, Jeelugumalli Mandal, W.G. District. 5.Gosu Polaiah S/o. Narasaiah R/o. P. Ankapalem Village, Jeelugumalli Mandal, W.G. District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Govt. of A.P. Rep. by its Principal Secretary Revenue Department, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. 2 The District Collector, Eluru, W.G. District. 3 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Janga Reddy Gudem, Revenue Division, W.G. District. 4 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Jellugumalli Mandal, W.G. 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 a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ order or direction declaring the action of the respondents in issuing Notice dated Nil-11-2007 and purporting to evict the petitioners from the lands belonging to the petitioners agricultural land admeasuring Ac.5-06 Cents in Sy.No.118, Ac.11-24 Cents in Sy.No.119 and Ac.6-45 Cents in sy.No.99/3 in Total admeasuring Ac.22-75 cents situated at P. Narayanapuram Village, Jangareddygudem Revenue Division, West Godavari District as being illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional and consequently direct the 3rd respondent to set aside the notice dated Nil-11- 2007 and further direct the respondent to forthwith pass orders on the representation of the petitioners dated 13-11-2007. Counsel for the Petitioners: MR.P.PANDU RANGA REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following ORDER: THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA Writ Petition No.18323 of 2008 Order: Assailing the notice, dated 13.11.2007, issued by the third respondent, namely, Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Jangareddygudem Revenue Division, West Godavari District, purporting to evict the petitioners from lands in question on the ground that they are assigned lands and directing them to produce relevant records on 19.11.2007 to substantiate their claim that the lands in question belong to them, the present writ petition is filed. The petitioners claim that their predecessors have purchased the lands in question under a registered sale deed, dated 15.12.1944, and they are in possession and enjoyment of the same having succeeded. The petitioners state that pursuant to the impugned notice, though they have submitted their detailed representation along with relevant documents, the third respondent has not passed any orders so far and taking advantage of pendency of the case, some third parties are trying interfere and dispossess the petitioners from the lands in question. Hence, the present writ petition. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for the respondents, and at their request, the writ petition is taken up for disposal at the admission stage. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that on earlier occasions, when similar notice was issued to the petitioners, after considering their explanation, the Special Deputy Collector, Tribal Welfare, Polavaram, passed orders on 13.02.2008 holding that there is no violation of conditions laid down in Andhra Pradesh Schedule Area Land Transfer Regulation 1 of 1959 as amended by Regulation 1 of 1970 in respect of the lands in question. The relevant para of the said order reads as under. “The matter has been examined. It is observed that the lands in R.S.No.118, Ac.5-06 cts. and in R.S.No.119 Ac.11-24 cts. total measuring Ac.16.30 cts along with other lands in P.Narayanapuram village of Jeelugumilli Mandal had decided in favour of the respondent by the then Special Deputy Collector (TW) K.R.Puram in his S.R.Nos.48 to 52/91, 109 to 112/91, and 189/91, dated 10.04.1992, observing that the lands never belongs to Tribals at any point of time and the schedule lands are under their continuous possession and enjoyment from the date of purchase the lands. No further grounds mentioned by the petitioners in the case. Finally, I hold that there is no violation of conditions laid down in the APSALTR Act 1/59 as amended by Regulation 1/70 in the present case. Therefore further action in this case is dropped, so as to avoid res-judicata under the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Schedule Area Land Transfer Regulation 1 of 1959 as amended by Regulation 1 of 1970. An appeal lies before the Agent to Government, West Godavari District, Eluru within a period of two months from the date of this order.” The learned counsel contended that the said order has become ﬁnal and there is no need to issue the impugned notice again. Therefore, the learned counsel sought to set aside the impugned notice. On the other hand, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for the respondents, on instructions, submits that though the petitioners were issued with the impugned notice, till today they have not submitted their explanation and the matter is still pending before the third respondent. However, the learned counsel for the petitioners states that the petitioners have already submitted their explanation on 13.11.2007 itself and there is an acknowledgment to that eﬀect, and even the petitioners have appeared before the third respondent on 19.11.2007 with relevant documents. In the circumstances, without going into the merits of the case, the petitioners are directed to submit their explanation and objections, if any, as available to them under law, with relevant documents once again, to the impugned notice before the third respondent, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and on such explanation, the third respondent is directed to consider and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law. Till such time, status quo obtaining as on today shall be maintained. With the above observations, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. ___________________ N.V. RAMANA, J. Date: 24.09.2008 VGB