THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.21725 OF 2011 ORDER: The action of respondent Nos.1 to 5 in not taking any steps to stop the prawn culture activities being carried on by the sixth respondent in her land of an extent of Ac.1-60 cents in Survey Nos.17/4, 31/2 and 31/3 situated at Duvvuruvaripalem Village, Muthukuru Mandal, SPSR Nellore District, without obtaining permission, is questioned in this Writ Petition as being illegal, arbitrary and in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It is the case of the petitioners that, without obtaining permission for prawn culture, the sixth respondent had dug a pond for carrying on prawn culture activities; despite their representation dated 09.05.2011, respondent Nos.2 and 3 had not taken any action to prevent the sixth respondent from carrying on such activities; they had submitted representation dated 11.07.2011 to the fifth respondent which resulted in the fifth respondent visiting the lands and addressing a letter to the fourth respondent regarding the prawn culture activities being illegally carried on by the sixth respondent, the damage being caused thereby to the neighbouring land owners, and his recommending removal of the fish pond; they had also submitted a representation on 18.07.2011 to the first respondent; and, as the first respondent was not taking any action in this regard, the present Writ Petition is filed. Sri S. Lakshminarayana Reddy, Learned Counsel for the petitioners, would draw attention of this Court to an order of a Division Bench in Madireddy Padma Rambabu and others v. District Forest Officer, E.G. District and others (2002 (3) ALT 57 (D.B.)), wherein the Division Bench referred to a judgment of the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Harjeet Singh Sandhu (2001 (3) SCALE 336) and held that enjoyment of rights by the owner could not be in the manner which is injurious to health or otherwise hazardous; a person who holds land for agricultural purpose, subject to any reasonable restrictions made by the State, may have the right to use water for irrigational purposes, and also to excavate a tank; but under no circumstances can he be permitted to discharge the effluents in such a manner so as to affect the right of his neighbour to use water for his own purposes; and he does not have any right to contaminate the water to cause damage to the holders of neighbouring agricultural fields. While the complaint made by the petitioners, who are agriculturists, is undoubtedly serious and may well have necessitated a direction to the first respondent to act forthwith to stop prawn culture activities being carried on by the sixth respondent, Sri K. Srinivasulu, Learned Counsel for the sixth respondent, has placed before this Court an unconditional undertaking submitted by the sixth respondent to fish out the prawns by 15th January, 2012 and, thereafter, to stop the same. While Sri S. Lakshminarayana Reddy, Learned Counsel for the petitioners, would assert that the sixth respondent has already removed prawns from the tank, and time is now being sought only for her to plant prawn seeds afresh, Sri K. Srinivasulu, Learned Counsel for the sixth respondent, would vehemently deny the allegation and submit that the sixth respondent would not plant fresh prawn seeds in her lands, and the time sought for is only to remove the existing prawns grown thereat. In view of the unconditional undertaking given by the sixth respondent, and in view of the statement made across the bar by Sri K. Srinivasulu, Learned Counsel for the sixth respondent, that no fresh prawn seeds would be grown in the lands in question, and as the time sought for is only to remove the existing prawns from the tank, I consider it appropriate to dispose of the Writ Petition granting time to the sixth respondent to remove the entire prawn crop, and stop all prawn culture activities by 15th January, 2012. The Writ Petition is, accordingly, disposed of. However, in the circumstances, without costs. _____________________________ RAMESH RANGANATHAN, J October 12, 2011 MD THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.21725 OF 2011 October 12, 2011 MD