IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH WRIT PETITION NO : 3737of 2006 Between: 1.Peddi Sankara Sastry and four others ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, rep.by its Secretary, Revenue Dept., Hyd and five others .....RESPONDENT(S) THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH W.P.No.3737 of 2006 O R D E R: This writ petition is filed seeking to issue a Writ of Mandamus declaring the impugned action of the respondents 1 to 5 in not disposing their representations dated 12.2.2002and 13.2.2002 but alienating the previously assigned lands to the 6th respondent and without paying any compensation for such take over and also not passing speaking orders on their representations, as contempt of this Court orders in W.P.No.14712 of 2004 and also arbitrary, illegal and violative of principles of natural justice and consequently direct the respondents not to interfere with their peaceful possession and enjoyment of their lands and grant such other orders. 2. The case of the petitioners is that they filed W.P.No.14712 of 2004 questioning the impugned action of the respondents 1 to 5 in seeking to alienate lands earlier assigned to them to private parties ie., 6th respondent by conducting a re-survey and trying to throw them out of possession without following the due process of law. It is stated that during the year 1971 the Government has deforested a certain extent from the Bandar Reserve Forest in RS No.71 near Palletummala Palem and consequently got the land surveyed as per the Survey and Boundaries Act and allotted various survey numbers between and including S.No.662 to S.No.1016 within the said RS 71. Subsequently the said survey, certain lands were assigned to the poor persons by collecting the market value fixed by the Government to an extent of Ac.2.50 cents through D form pattas. Many of the assignees including the petitioners had paid the value and the assignments were also incorporated in village accounts as far back as 1972 and 1975. Few of them got possession of their lands from their ancestors by virtue of will etc., after their demise and they are in continuous possession. Since the date of assignment in 1974, without anybody interruption. While so, in January-February 2002 the 5th respondent stated to have conducted a fresh survey on the said lands once again and assigned the lands without any authority on the basis without following the due process and in total in violation of Andhra Pradesh Survey & Boundaries Act, 1923. No notification was published by the respondents with regard to the alleged re-survey in the year 2002. No notice was served on the petitioners being the existing registered holders of affected land and interested persons in the said land. No beat of tom-tom either before or after the second survey was done. No enquiry was conducted in the area in the matter. The petitioners are in peaceful possession and enjoyment of their lands since 1972-1975 from the date of assignment. It is also their case that after the second survey the petitioners noticed that the 4th respondent through his proceedings in RC B12/2002 dated 13.3.2002 has arbitrarily handed over the possession of the said land to the extent on around 14000 acres. The said land was handed over in three phases of 7000, 5600 and 1400 acres to one Sri T.Subba Rao, the representative of the 6th respondent. The aggrieved persons including the petitioners went and met the local leaders with a request to represent their case before the appropriate authorities. Accordingly, they made a representation dated 12.2.2002 to the 2nd respondent/District Collector and another representation dated 13.3.2002 to the 5th respondent/The Assistant Director, Survey and Land Records, Krishna District and copies of the same were also sent to various other authorities, they have no response to official respondents. On the contrary, the 6th respondent has commenced the work relating to the boundaries of RS No.71 covering lands of the petitioners survey numbers, by putting bund with approximately 20 meters height ignoring the old Theodolite stones that were put during the 1934 survey. The land that was handed over to the 6th respondent for business purpose. There is no public purpose involved in it. The Government wishes to take over the lands for public purpose the procedure as contemplated under Land Acquisition Act has been complied with. In the present case no rules have been followed. Under these circumstances, the petitioners filed W.P.No.14712 of 2004 wherein this Court directed the respondent to consider the representations dated 12.2.2002 and 13.2.2002. No orders have been passed thereof. Therefore, they filed another representation dated 8.1.2004 to the 2nd and 5th respondents. The 3rd respondent through his proceedings in Rc.B 565/2005 dated 23.3.2005 directing the 4th respondent to cause an enquiry and submit a report. Bu no action has been taken thereafter. Therefore, the petitioner got issued a legal notice dated 21.10.2005 to the respondents 2 to 5 stating that their action constitutes a contempt of court. Inspite of the same, no action has been taken by the respondent in the matter. Therefore, the present writ petition. 3. Heard the learned counsel for petitioners and respondents. 4. The petitioners claim that the lands in R.S.No.71 were assigned in favour of their ancestors and, after their demise, the petitioners are in the possession of the lands in Rs.No.71. The said lands were sought to be assigned in favour of the 6th respondent for the purpose of business without any notice to the affected parties particularly to the petitioners and without following the due process of law. Therefore they made representations dated 12.2.2002 and 13.2.2002 to the respondent Nos.2 and 3. Since no action was taken on the said representations, they filed W.P.No.14712 of 2004, which was disposed of directing the respondent to consider the said representations dated 12.2.2002 and 13.2.2002. However, even without disposing of the said representation in compliance of the orders passed by this Court in W.P.No.1714 of 2004, the official respondents proceeded in the matter. Consequently, the 6th respondent had tried to use the lands in question for his business purpose. Therefore, they filed the present writ petition. 5. Having regard to the averments made in the writ petition, since no counter has been filed by the respondents, the respondents 2 to 4 are directed to consider the case of the petitioner having regard to the problems explained by them in their representations dated 12.2.2002 and 13.2.2002, if the said representations are still pending and not disposed of pursuant to the orders passed by this Court in W.P.No.14712 of 2004, and pass appropriate orders within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a copy of the order. 6. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. ________________ G.CHANDRAIAH,J 23rd September, 2009 PNV