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 SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 26090 of 2000 Between: 1 K. Gopalakrishnam Raju, S/o. Venkata Narasimha Raju, R/o. Srunga Vruksham, Palakoderu Mandal, West Godavari District. 2 K. Annapurna Devi, W/o. Gopalakrishnam Raju, R/o. Srunga Vruksham, Palakoderu Mandal, West Godavari District. 3 D. Satyanarayana Raju, S/o. Satyanarayana Raju, R/o. Srunga Vruksham, Palakoderu Mandal, West Godavari District. 4 V. Ramanamma, W/o. Kodanda Raju, R/o. Srunga Vruksham, Palakoderu Mandal, West Godavari District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Dirstrict Collector, Eluru, West Godavari District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Narsapur, West Godavari District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Palakoderu Mandal, West Godavari District. 4 The Divisional Forest Officer, Eluru, West Godavari District. ....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:MR M.JANARDHANA RAO FOR MR.K.CHIDAMBARAM Counsel for respondents 1 to 3: AGP FOR REVENUE Counsel for respondent No.4: NONE APPEARED. The Court made the following : O R D E R: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in interfering with the petitioners’ right to convert their lands into ﬁsh/prawn tanks as illegal and arbitrary. At the hearing, there is no representation for the respondents despite the name of the Government Pleader for Revenue being shown in the cause list. In their aﬃdavit, the petitioners asserted that their lands do not fall within the CRZ area and therefore, there is no need for obtaining any permission and their right to carry on the ﬁsh/prawn culture cannot be interfered with by the respondents. This Court, in Madireddy Padma Rambabu v. District Forest Oﬃcer, Kakinada [1], held that it is incumbent upon any person who seeks to carry on the ﬁsh/prawn culture to obtain necessary permissions from the competent authority. Therefore, irrespective of whether the lands fall within the CRZ area or not, the petitioners are liable to apply for and obtain permission to convert their lands into fish/prawn ponds. In this view of the matter, the writ petition is disposed of by permitting the petitioners to apply to the competent authority for permission. If such applications are made within four (4) weeks from today, the competent authority shall dispose of the same in accordance with law, within a period of four (4) weeks thereafter. For a period of eight (8) weeks, status quo as on today shall be maintained. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Dated 25th September, 2008 vrn [1] 2002 (1) ALD 728 (DB)