IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO:1725 of 2002 Between: Kanuku Malluru S/o late Kanuku Yerraiah R/o Cherla, Cherla Mandal Khammam District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The District Collector, Khammam District. 2 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Cherla Mandal, Khammam District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.K.MANIKYALA RAO Counsel for the Respondents:AGP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of mandamus to direct the respondents not to interfere with the petitioner’s possession in respect of land admeasuring Acs.2.11 cents in Survey No.50/4 of Dosillapalli Village, Cherla Mandal, Khammam District. Heard Sri K.Manikyala Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue and perused the record. The petitioner claims to have belonged to Madiga caste. His land is situated in an agency area. He applied for a ryotwari patta under the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation 2 of 1970. He admits that his application was rejected on the ground that he failed to prove that he was in possession of the property for more than eight (8) years preceding the notiﬁed date. His grievance is that though he is eligible for assignment of land as a landless poor person under the Board Standing Orders (BSO), respondent No.2 has been trying to interfere with his possession without granting assignment. At the hearing, the learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance on paragraph 7(3) of BSO.15 to drive home his contention that even if an assignment is not granted, a person who is a landless poor person is entitled to occupy the Government land up to the extent of 2½ acres of wet or 5 acres of dry. I have carefully gone through the said provision. BSO.15 lays down the procedure for disposal of assessed lands not being reserved. While laying down the procedure for assignment in respect of the lands for which applications are made, paragraph 7 of BSO.15 deals with assessed land occupied without formal application. It is laid down therein that if any assessed land is occupied without formal application, the Village Oﬃcers should at once obtain formal applications from the occupants if they desire assignment and submit memorandum in Form A to the Tahsildar and the Tahsildar should then dispose of each case under paragraph 9. Under sub-para 2, it is laid down that if any person is desirous of taking up unoccupied lands, he shall submit a petition to the Tahsildar in writing and thereupon, the Tahsildar should follow the procedure prescribed under sub- para 3, which reads as under: (3) Eviction of occupiers not eligible for assignment; (i) All occupiers of lands at the disposal of Government shall be evicted in the following cases: (a) If the occupier is not a landless poor person, he shall be evicted from the entire occupation; and (b) In case an occupier is a landless poor person, he shall be evicted from such excess extent if any, over and above the area under his occupation, which together with the land, owned by him would make up a total extent of 2 ½ acres or wet or 5 acres of dry land. The above reproduced paragraph shows that if an occupier is found to be landless poor person, he shall be evicted from such excess extent if any, over and above the area under his occupation which together with the land owned by him would make up a total extent of 2½ acres of wet or 5 acres of dry land. This provision, in my view, applies in cases where an assessed land is occupied without formal application and an application is obtained from the occupiers, who are desirous of getting an assignment. In such cases, pending consideration of application for assignment, possession of the occupiers, who are found to be landless poor persons, is protected. This provision, however, shall not be construed as a license to every landless poor person to occupy the land to an extent of Acs.5.00 of dry or 2½ acres of wet even without making an application. The limited protection extended by the said provision will not be available in cases where no applications are made for assignment or the applications so made are rejected. The fact remains that the petitioner has not made any application for assignment so far. However, in the wake of his plea that he is a landless poor person, the Tahsildar concerned ought to have obtained an application from the petitioner and consider the same for assignment. As the petitioner approached this Court with the grievance that he is sought to be evicted, though he is a landless poor person, he is permitted to make an application before the Tahsildar, Cherla Mandal, Khammam District within a period of six (6) weeks from today. If such an application for assignment is ﬁled within the stipulated time, respondent No.2 shall ﬁnd out whether the petitioner is a landless poor person and the land is unobjectionable for grant of an assignment, consider granting of assignment in his favour and pass appropriate orders. Till disposal of such application, the petitioner shall not be evicted from the land in his occupation. Subject to the above observations, the writ petition is disposed of. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 25th SEPTEMBER, 2008. Note: issue copy in one (1) week. B/o kvni