IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) SATURDAY, THE NINETEENTH DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION No. 7064 of 2008 Between: 1 Alluri Munniah S/o.Subbanna R/o.Kovluru village H/o.Ananthapalli Nallajarla Mandal West Godavari District 2 Alluri Appa Rao S/o.Subbanna R/o.Kovluru village H/o.Ananthapalli Nallajarla Mandal West Godavari District 3 Garapati Ramakrishna S/o.Suryanarayana R/o.Kovluru village H/o.Ananthapalli Nallajarla Mandal West Godavari District 4 Gadde Bhadram S/o.Raghuvulu R/o.Kovluru village H/o.Ananthapalli Nallajarla Mandal West Godavari District ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The State of Andhra pradesh, rep. by its Principal Secretary to Revenue, (Land Acquisition),Department secretariat , Saifabad, Hyderabad 2 The District Collector, West Godavari District at Eluru 3 The Land Acquisition officer-cum- Revenue Divisional Officer, Eluru, West Godavari District 4 The Tahsildar, Nallajarla Mandal, West Godavari 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 may be pleased to issue a writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in insisting the petitioners to vacate from their small extents of landed properties pursuant to notification in Roc.F5/SW/146/G1/2006 dated 27.4.2007 issued by the 2nd respondent without following due process of law thereafter as illegal, irregular arbitrary, irrational vitiated by political malafides and contrary to the provisions of Land Acquisition Act 1894 and offends articles, 14,21 and 300A of the Constitution of India and cosnequently direct the respondents not to disposes the petitioners from their respective lands enlisted in the said notification. Counsel for the Petitioners: MR.NIMMAGADDA SATYANARAYANA Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION No. 7064 of 2008 ORDER: Petitioners claim to be owners of various extents of lands in different survey numbers situated at Kovluru village H/o Ananthapalli village of Nallajarla Mandal. The Government proposed to acquire the lands of the petitioners along with other lands for the purpose of providing house sites to the weaker sections of the society, by issuance of a notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short “the Act”). Petitioners state that though an enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act was to be conducted as per the said notification, no notice was given to them with regard to the date of enquiry and all of a sudden, the 4th respondent came to their lands and insisted them to vacate the lands for the purpose of distributing house sites to the weaker sections. Hence, they filed this writ petition seeking to declare the said action of the respondents as arbitrary and illegal and for a consequential direction to the respondents not to dispossess them from their lands. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition appearing for the first respondent and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue, appearing for respondents 2 to 4. On instructions, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition submitted that the notification under Section 4(1) of the Act was published on 29.04.2007 and thereafter, notice under Section 5-A of the Act was issued to the petitioners and others informing that an enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act would be conducted on 05.06.2007. Thereafter, enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act was conducted on 05.06.2007, but only one G.Narasimhamurthy attended the enquiry and he filed his objections and the 3rd respondent-Revenue Divisional Officer, who conducted the enquiry, forwarded his remarks to the 2nd respondent-District Collector, for passing orders under Section 5-A of the Act. Having regard to the fact that no orders under Section 5-A of the Act have yet been passed and now the petitioners are on notice about the said enquiry, petitioners are hereby directed to appear in person before the 3rd respondent-Revenue Divisional Officer, and file their objections within a period of two weeks from today and on that day itself the 3rd respondent may consider the said objections and pass appropriate orders. If for any reason the 3rd respondent is unable to conduct enquiry into the objections filed by the petitioners, on that day he may afford an opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioners on the next date of adjournment. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. __________ 19.04.2008 sh To 1 The Principal Secretary to Revenue, (Land Acquisition),Department, State of Andhra pradesh, secretariat , Saifabad, Hyderabad 2 The District Collector, West Godavari District at Eluru 3 The Land Acquisition officer-cum- Revenue Divisional Officer, Eluru, West Godavari District 4 The Tahsildar, Nallajarla Mandal, West Godavari District.