IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY EIGHTH DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION No.9455 of 2008 Between: 1 Sirapu Bangari S/o Pyditalli 2 Nagireddy pentamma W/o ramulu 3 Smt. Bothsa thotamma W/o Appanna 4 Sirapu Seethamma W/o bangari 5 Nagiredla Ramulu W/o yerraiah 6 Nagiredla Kondamma W/o Narasimha 7 Kotipalli bangari S/o Peraiah 8 Smt. Nagiredla Apppayamma W/o Gurraiah All are R/o Reddi Kancheru Village, Bhogapuram Mandal, Vizianagaram District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector, Vizianagaram District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Vizianagaram, vizianagaramDistrict. 3 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Bhogapuram Mandal, Vizianagram District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ, order or direction, more particularly one in the nature of Writ of mandamus, declaring the impugned proceedings Rc.No. 476/2005 A dt 6-4-2005 issued by the 3rd respondent herein without initiating the Land Acquisition Proceedings as illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional, violative of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India and consequently set a side the same by directing the respondents to pay the compensation for the lands situated in Sy. no. 332/7, 196/14, 196/12, 196/13 196/11, 332/8, 332/9, 196/10 admeasuring ac. 1-24 Cents, Ac. 0-99 cents, Ac. 0-76 cents, Ac. 0-79 cents, Ac. 1-19cents, Ac. 0-87 cents, Ac. 1-48 cents and Ac. 1-21 cents, situated at Kancheru Vilage, bhogapuram Mandal, Vizianagaram District and to grant such other relief or reliefs as this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioners: MR.TADDI.NAGESWARA RAO Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION No.9455 of 2008 ORDER: Petitioners were granted D-form pattas in respect of the lands situated at Kancheru village of Bhogapuram Mandal in Vizianagaram District, and ever since the assignment, petitioners were in uninterrupted possession and enjoyment of the lands and were eking out their livelihood by attending to the agricultural operations in the said lands. While so, the 3rd respondent-Mandal Revenue Officer, Bhogapuram, invoking condition No.10 of D-Form Pattta, passed the impugned orders dated 06.04.2005 resuming the lands assigned to the petitioners on the premise that they are required for constructing pucca houses to the fishermen families of the Chepala Kancheru village. Questioning the said order, petitioners filed this writ petition. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition. The learned counsel for the petitioners seeks to assail the impugned order on two grounds. The first ground is that condition No.10 of D-Form patta is only with regard to payment of cist and it has nothing to do with resumption. The second ground is that in view of the ratio laid down in LAO-cum-RDO, Chevella Division, Domalaguda, Hyd v. Mekala Pandu [1] , even if the lands in question are assigned lands, petitioners are entitled to compensation on par with other landowners, and therefore, resumption of the land without payment of compensation is bad in law. I am unable to accept the said contentions of the learned counsel for the petitioner. It is true that in the impugned orders it is stated that invoking condition No.10 of D-Form patta, the lands are resumed to the Government. But a perusal of the D-Form pattas issued to the petitioners shows that as per Condition No.13, if any assigned land is required for any project or for any public purpose, the Government can resume the land without paying any compensation and the order of the Government is final. May be due to typographical mistake instead of Condition No.13, Condition No.10 is mentioned in the impugned orders. Therefore, the first contention of the leaned counsel for the petitioners cannot be countenanced. Insofar as the second contention, a Full Bench of this Court in Mekala Pandu’s (supra), has held that even though the lands acquired are assigned lands, the assignees are entitled to compensation on par with other landowners. However, the Government challenged the said decision before the Supreme Court, wherein, the judgment of the Full Bench of this Court was stayed. Hence, this contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner also cannot be sustained. As per the D-form pattas, the Government is entitled to resume the assigned land as and when it is required. Therefore, keeping in mind the plight of the assignees, the Government issued G.O.Ms.No.1307 dated 23.12.1993, stating that the assignees are entitled to ex gratia when the assigned land is acquired for a public purpose. Therefore, in the light of the said Government Order, the petitioners are entitled to only ex gratia. Hence, the respondent-authorities are hereby directed to pay ex gratia to the petitioners in terms of G.O.Ms.No.1307 dated 23.12.1993. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of, at the stage of admission. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________________________ (JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA) 28th April, 2008. Sh To 1 The District Collector, Vizianagaram District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Vizianagaram, Vizianagaram District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Bhogapuram Mandal, Vizianagaram District. 4 Two C.Cs to 5 Two C.D. copies. [1] 2004(2) ald 451 (LB)S