IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE SIXTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION NO : 3509 of 2001 Between: Koti Koteswara Rao, S/o. Rathaiah, R/o. D.No.18-32018, Sangadigunta, Mantrivati Street, Guntur District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The District Collector, Guntur District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Guntur District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Guntur Mandal, Guntur District. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an order or direction, more particularly in the nature of Writ of Mandamus to declaring the action of the respondent authorities in allotting the petitioners land to the 3rd party without acquiring the Petitioner's land under the Land Acquisition Act and dispossess the petitioner from Sy.No.1177 in an extent of 95 cents., Guntur Town which is in possession of the petitioner without any right as arbitrary, illegal, null and void and violative of Article 14, 300-A of the Constitution of India and pass Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.BALAJI MEDAMALLI Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR W.P.NO. 3509 OF 2001 ORDER: 1. The petitioner challenges the action of respondents in allotting his land to an extent of 95 cents in Sy.No. 1177 situated at Guntur Town to third parties without acquiring under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act (for short “the Act”). 2. In the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, it is stated that petitioner is the owner of Ac.1-50 cents of land in Sy.No. 1177 of Guntur Town and by a gazette notification dated 1.9.1997 issued under Section 4 (1) of the Act the respondents proposed to acquire 55 cents out of Ac.1-50 cents belonging to the petitioner for the purpose of providing house sites to poorer sections. It is alleged that the respondents had acquired a total extent of 1.50 cents of land in Sy.No.1177 from the petitioner and allotted the same to beneficiaries and he is thus deprived of balance of 95 cents of land in S.No.1177. In short, the petitioner alleges that for the balance of 95 cents of land neither proceedings under the Act were taken up nor any compensation was paid to him. The petitioner alleges that he has filed a detailed representation before the respondents on 3.11.2000, but there was no response. 3. The 2nd respondent-Revenue Divisional Officer filed a counter-affidavit specifically stating that the Government has acquired land to an extent of Ac.2.81 cents in S.No. 1174, Ac. 4.78 cents in S.No. 1175 and Ac. 7.15 cents in S.No.1177 by a notification under Section 4 (1) of the Act, dated 1.9.1977 duly invoking urgency clause. Possession of the land was taken as per the demarcation record available with Sub-Division office and revenue records. To the extent of claim of petitioner in respect of 95 cents of land in S.No. 1177, the following award details have been given, based upon revenue records, Sl. No. Name of the Land Owner S.No. Extent Ac. Cts. Land compensation awarded D a t e of payment 1. K o t i Koteswara Rao s/o Rathnaiah (petitioner in the present writ petition) 1177-1 0.55 67069.30 29.9.86 2. Boddu Tirupatamma w/o Nagabhushanam 1177-1 1.59 193891.50 29.9.86 3. Kelam Mahalakshmi 1177-1 0.50 60972.10 29.9.86 4. K o n u r Ranga Nayakulu sons and others 1177-1 4.51 549968.90 Kept under CCD Total 7.15 871901.80 4. It is specifically stated by the respondents that as per the revenue records, the petitioner is only having 55 cents of land in S.No.11771-1 and for acquisition of that land, he has already received compensation and except the above said land, he has no other land in the said survey number and therefore the present claim of the petitioner that there has been no proceedings under the Act to the extent of his balance land of 95 cents is incorrect. 5. It is to be appreciated that the petitioner has not taken up any proceedings including the proceedings under Section 18 of the Act against the award passed in respect of his 55 cents of land to put forth his claim and on the other hand, he received the compensation in pursuance of the award. The award was passed and compensation paid to the petitioner as early as in September, 1986, whereas the present writ petition has been filed on 28.2.2001. The relief sought for in the present writ petition is almost a relief of declaration of title in respect of balance of 95 cents of land in S.No. 1177. In the light of the above, the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that though the petitioner is the owner of balance of 95 cents of land in S.No.1177, his ownership to that extent is not recognized by the authorities under the Act, is difficult to be appreciated in the absence of any proceedings taken up by the petitioner prior to filing of this writ petition. During the hearing of this writ petition, the learned counsel for the petitioner has alleged that rest of the land acquired in the said S.No. said to be belonging to three others, as mentioned in the above table, comprises the balance of land of the petitioner and compensation was wrongly paid to them. The said contention, however, cannot be appreciated in this writ petition as there are several disputed questions of fact which cannot be gone into in the writ petition. Therefore, the petitioner cannot be granted any relief under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with respect to his claim. If the petitioner is so advised, it is open to him to take appropriate proceedings as per law. 6. The writ petition is devoid of merits and is accordingly dismissed. However, no order as to costs. _________________________ VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR, J Dt.06.02.2009 KR ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 The District Collector, Guntur District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Guntur District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Guntur Mandal, Guntur District. 4. CC to GP for Revenue 5. 2 CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{JPK}