IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF MAY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No : 10892 of 2008 Between: 1 Kurakula Venkata Jayamma W/o narayana Rao R/o Virawada VIllage, Pithapuram (M) East Godavari District. 2 K. Appa Rao S/o Satyanarayana R/o Virawada VIllage, Pithapuram (M) East Godavari District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The State of Andhra Pradesh, rep by its District Collector, East Godavari District, Kakinada. 2 the Revenue Divisional Officer & Land Acquisition Officer, Kakinada, E.G. District. 3 The Tahsildar, Pithapuram mandal, E.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 Notification in Ref.G2/1746/2008 dt 4-4-2008 issued by the 1st respondent under section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring an extent of Ac. 1.67 cts and Ac. 1.00 cts in Sy. No. 255 of Virawada Villge, Pithapuram mandal, East Godavari District as illegal, arbitrary and contrary to law and consequently to set a side the same in so far as the petitioners land is concerned and pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.K.CHIDAMBARAM Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following: ORDER: The first respondent issued a notification, dated 04.04.2008, under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short “the Act”), proposing to acquire the lands of the petitioners as well as certain others for the purpose of providing house sites to the weaker-sections. The petitioners state that they are small farmers and depend exclusively on agriculture and that their entire land is sought to be acquired. Placing reliance upon the circulars issued by the Government, the petitioners assail the very initiation of the land acquisition proceedings. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition. It is true that the first respondent issued notification under Section 4(1) of the Act proposing to acquire the lands of the petitioners, but at the same time, he had not dispensed with the enquiry under Section 5 (A) of the Act. The Land Acquisition Officer has already issued a notice, dated 19.04.2008, inviting objections from the affected persons for the proposed acquisition. The petitioners can put forward all their objections in writing before the Land Acquisition Officer. The enquiry is proposed to be conducted today itself. Time can be extended as regards the objections of the petitioners. Depending on the out come of the enquiry and further steps that may be taken by the respondents, the petitioners can approach the Court, at the relevant point of time. The Writ Petition is disposed of, leaving it open to the petitioners to put forward their objections before the Land Acquisition Officer, under Section 5 of the Act, within a period of one week from today. It shall be open to the petitioners to approach this Court, if any orders adverse to their interest are passed. There shall be no order as to costs. __________________ L.NARASIMHA REDDY,J Dt:22.05.2008. GJ/KDL ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{TRT}