IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWELFTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 5152 of 2008 Between: Mulagapati Sambamurthy Raju S/o. Gurraraju R/o.MIG -25,Auto Nagar, Visakhapatnam ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Government of Andhra Pradesh, rep.by its Secretary Revenue Department , Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad 2 The District Collector, Visakhapatnam District Visakhapatnam 3 The Joint Collector cum Settlement Officer, Visakhapatnam District, Visakhapatnam 4 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam District 5 The Tahasildar/Mandal Revenue officer, Visakhapatnam Rural Mandal, Visakhapatnam District 6 Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority, rep.by its Vice Chairman, Visakhapatanam, Visakhapatnam 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 writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the action of the Respondent No.3 innot passing any orders in the appeal filed by the petitioner for grant of Ryothwari patta in respect of the lands admeasuring Ac.2.36 cents and Ac. 0.69 cents situated in Sy.No.370/1and 370/2 of Madhurawada village, Visakhapatnam Rural Mandal, Visakhapatnam District as being illegal, arbitrary, and violative of Articles 14 and 300-A of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents herein not to dispossess the petitioner from the lands admeausring Ac.2.36 cents and Ac. 0.69 cents situate in Sy.No.370/1 and 370/2 of Madhurawada village, Visakhapatnam Rural Mandal, Visakhapatnam District till the disposal of the appeal pending before the 3rd respondent 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 Petitioner:SMT.KAVITHA GOTTIPATI Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 5152 of 2008 ORAL ORDER: This writ petition is filed questioning the action of the third respondent in not passing any orders in the Application filed by the petitioner for grant of Ryothwari patta in respect of land admeasuring Ac.2.36 cents and Ac. 0.69 cents situated in Sy.No.370/1and 370/2, Madhurawada village, Visakapatnam Rural mandal, Visakapatnam district as illegal and arbitrary. The petitioner claims that the erstwhile Raja of Vizianagaram in the year 1912 has granted patta to his ancestors for the agricultural land admeasuring Ac.2.36 cents and Ac. 0.69 cents situated in Sy.No.370/1and 370/2 Madhurawada village, Visakapatnam Rural mandal, Visakapatnam district and since then they are in possession and enjoyment of the same and paying the cist regularly. Questioning the action of the revenue officials in trying to dispossess him, the petitioner herein filed W.P. No. 367 of 2008 and the same was withdrawn seeking liberty to avail the remedies under the provisions of A.P. (Andhra Area) Estate Abolition and Conversion into Ryothwari Act, 1948 (for short the Act). Thereafter, the petitioner filed an application before the third respondent –Joint Collector cum Settlement Officer, Visakapatnam under Section 11 ( a ) of the Act, together with an application seeking interim order not to dispossess, him and the same is pending. The grievance of the petitioner is that taking advantage of the fact that no orders are granted in the application filed by him Section 11 (a) of the Act, the respondents are trying to dispossess him from the subject land illegally. Hence, the present writ petition. Learned counsel for petitioner submitted that the petitioner is in possession of the subject land and entitled to grant of Ryothwari patta and filed an application under Section 11 ( a) of the Act on 15.2.2008 and pending said application the respondents are trying to illegally evict the petitioner. On the other hand, learned Standing Counsel for 6th respondent –Visakapatnam Urban Development Authority (for short VUDA), on instructions submitted that the subject land is allotted to the 6th respondent-VUDA. Heard the learned counsel for petitioner, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue and Mrs.V Preeti Reddy for 6th respondent. They agreed for disposal of the writ petition at the admission stage with a direction to the third respondent to pass appropriate orders in the pending application expeditiously. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and in view of the agreed stand taken by them, I deem it appropriate to dispose of the writ petition directing the third respondent to consider the application filed by the petitioner under section 11 (a) of the Act and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law either in the main application or in the application filed for grant of interim orders, expeditiously, preferably within four weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order. Till such time, status quo existing as on today shall be maintained. Subject to above, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. ____________ N.V.RAMANA,J DATE: 12.3.2008 TVK THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 5152 of 2008 DATE: 12/3/2008