HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.15461 OF 2010 ORDER: The petitioner complains of illegal seizure of her borewell in Survey No.516-4 of Marthadu Village, Garladinne Mandal, Anantapur District, by the Mandal Revenue Inspector, Garladinne Mandal, respondent No.3, on 18-04-2010. She assails the said seizure on the ground that it is in violation of the procedure laid down by the A.P. Water, Land and Trees Act, 2002 (for brevity “Act of 2002”) and the Rules framed thereunder and seeks a consequential direction to the authorities to lift the said seizure. On instructions, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue fairly admitted that no notice was given to the petitioner prior to effecting the seizure of her borewell. He stated that the petitioner had installed the said borewell in violation of the prescribed procedure adversely affecting the rights of the other villagers. Be that as it may, the provisions of the Act of 2002 and more specifically, Section 15 of the Act of 2002 requires the authorities to put the person concerned on notice before initiating any adverse action against such person. This Court in P. NARAYANA REDDY v. MANDAL REVENUE OFFICER, MORTHAD MANDAL, NIZAMABAD[1] and BODAPATI MARKONDA NAIDU v. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH[2], held that initiation of action under the Act of 2002 without prior notice to the person affected is legally unsustainable. This being the settled position, seizure of the petitioner’s borewell by respondent No.3 without putting her on notice cannot be countenanced. The seizure is accordingly held to be illegal and the respondent authorities are directed to lift the same. Needless to state, this will not preclude the authorities from initiating action, if necessary, against the petitioner according to the procedure prescribed under the Act of 2002. The Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of with the aforestated directions. There shall be no order as to costs. _______________________ SANJAY KUMAR, J July 12, 2010. PV [1] 2004 (6) ALD 653 [2] 2009 (5) ALT 112 DB