IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, TWO THOUSAND EIGHT ONLY PRESENT: THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.25937 of 2000 Between: Mr. Ambadipudi Purnananda … Petitioner AND The Mandal Revenue Officer, Rompicherla, Guntur District, & others. … Respondents Counsel for the petitioner : None Counsel for the respondents: AGP for Revenue This Court made the following: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.25937 of 2000 ORDER:- This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of Mandamus to declare the inaction of respondent Nos. 1 to 3 in implementing order dated 26.04.1990 of respondent No.4, as illegal and arbitrary. The mother of the petitioner, Smt. Ambadipudi Lalithamba, purchased an extent of Ac.6.07 cents in Sy.No.311 and Ac.5.70 cents in Sy.Nos.283, 293 and 294 along with others vide registered sale deed No.2952 of 1958 dated 27.10.1958. During the survey and settlement operations, an extent of Ac.4.00 cents out of the said land was wrongly classiﬁed as Pasuvula Metha Poramboke and included in Sy.No.214. In the year 1977, the Tahsildar, Narasaraopet, granted pattas in respect of the said land to various beneﬁciaries treating the same as poramboke. The petitioner’s mother approached respondent No.4 for rectiﬁcation of the classification. After a detailed consideration of her claim, respondent No.4 vide his order dated 26.04.1990 ordered for rectiﬁcation of errors in the relevant record in respect of the land admeasuring Ac.3.96 cents in Sy.Nos.214/24 to 214/34 and directed the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Rompicherla to take further action for carrying out the above correction in the relevant records. As the said order was not implemented, the mother of the petitioner during her lifetime and the petitioner after her death repeatedly approached respondent Nos.1 to 3 to implement the order of respondent No.4. Though some action was initiated by the said respondents to cancel the pattas granted in favour of the third parties, the same did not result in conferment of any tangible beneﬁt to the petitioner. Therefore, he filed the present writ petition. At the hearing, none appeared for the petitioner. Heard the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue for respondent Nos.1 to 3. In the counter aﬃdavit all the abovementioned facts have been admitted by the Mandal Revenue Officer, Rompicherla Mandal. He, however, stated that show cause notices were served on the beneﬁciaries on 28.08.1994 and the assignees have not responded to the said notices, that respondent No.2 addressed a letter to respondent No.3 for cancelling the order of assignment in pursuance of order dated 26.04.1990 issued by respondent No.4 and that respondent No.3 accordingly addressed a letter to the Assistant Director, Survey, Settlement and Land Records, Guntur for oﬀering his remarks after inspecting the land and before issuing cancellation orders. From the abovementioned admitted facts, it is clear that on account of the mistake committed in the survey and settlement operations, the patta land of the family of the petitioner was shown as a grazing poramboke. Even after rectiﬁcation of the said mistake, no concrete action has been taken by the respondents so far. It is not permissible for the respondents to deny the property right vested in the petitioner. It is the bounden duty of respondent Nos.1 to 3 either to restore the land to the petitioner or to pay compensation in accordance with law. For the abovementioned reasons, the writ petition is allowed. Respondent No.3 is directed to ensure that either the land admeasuring Ac.3.96 cents in respect of which pattas were granted to third parties is restored to the petitioner or compensation as per the present market value is paid in accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 in the event restoration of land is found not possible. Respondent No.3 shall complete this exercise within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. ____________________________ C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Date: 05.09.2008 ES