IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.25575 of 2002 Between: Church of South India Rep. by its Chairman Rev. K. Padma Rao Dornakal Diocese, St. Marys Church, Church Compound, Khammam ..... PETITIONER AND The Khammam Municipality Rep. by its Commissioner Khammam Khammam District .....RESPONDENT Counsel for the Petitioner:SMT.G.JHANSI Counsel for the Respondent:NONE APPEARED The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed for a writ of mandamus to declare the action of the respondent in proposing to demolish the structures in Survey No.128 of Venkatagiri Gate, Khammam in pursuance of proceedings, dated 21.12.2002 issued by it, as illegal and arbitrary. Heard Smt. G.Jhansi, learned counsel for the petitioner. No one appeared for the respondent. The petitioner, which is the branch of Church of South India Trust Association, diocese of Dornakal, Warangal District, felt aggrieved by notice, dated 21.12.2002 issued by the respondent, to three persons, by names, Suryadevara Satyanarayana, Bazzan Chandraiah and Pandillapalli Venkateswarlu, calling upon them to remove the alleged unauthorized structures of four shop rooms and three wooden sheds from the Christian Graveyard within seven days from the date of receipt of the notice and that failing which, the same will be removed by the respondent’s office. According to the petitioner, it is the owner and possessor of the property and that the shop rooms were constructed on the land belonging to it. The grievance of the petitioner is that the respondent failed to issue notice to it before initiating action for removal of the alleged unauthorized structures. Though at the hearing, the respondent is not represented by it’s counsel, in the counter-affidavit, it has claimed that it is the owner and possessor of Ac.0.23 guntas of land situated in Khammam Revenue Village and that the same is used by Christians as their burial ground for a long time. It has further claimed that finding some vacant land forming part of the above said extent, certain private persons have made constructions over it. The question whether the property, on which, constructions were raised belongs to the petitioner or is vested in the respondent municipality, requires to be decided after giving notice to the petitioner. Admittedly, no such notice was given to the petitioner. If it is eventually found that the petitioner is the lawful owner of the property, the respondent will have to take appropriate action only if the structures raised on the property were unauthorised. In this view of the matter, the writ petition is disposed of with the direction to the respondent to issue notice to the petitioner, consider the explanation, if any, filed by it and pass appropriate orders. Till then, the respondent is restrained from demolishing the structures existing on the disputed land. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 18th MARCH, 2009. kvni