IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE J.CHELAMESWAR WRIT PETITION NO :24253 of 1995 Dated: 12th July 2006. Between: Gundla Lakshmi Narasamma and others ..... PETITIONERS AND The District Collector, Visakhapatnam and others .....RESPONDENTS THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE J.CHELAMESWAR W.P.NO.24253 OF 1995 ORAL ORDER: The ten petitioners herein claim that they, along with the 3rd respondent herein, jointly own an extent of Ac.0-28 cents situated at Maddilapalem within the Urban agglomeration of Visakhapatnam Town. The petitioners claim that they are entitled by 1/6th share of the abovementioned Ac.0-28 cents of land. It is further stated in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition that the 3rd respondent holds various other items of the property falling within the purview of the Urban Land (Ceiling & Regulation) Act, 1976, and he, therefore, filed a declaration under Section 6 of the Act. It appears that the competent authority by his proceedings dated 12-02- 1993 included the entire extent of the abovementioned Ac.0-28 cents of land, in the holding of the 3rd respondent and came to the conclusion that the 3rd respondent was holding an extent of 10401 square meters, in excess of the ceiling limited prescribed under the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976. Aggrieved by such determination of the competent authority, the petitioners filed an appeal before the appellate authority under Section 33 of the said Act and the said appeal was allowed by the appellate authority by an order dated 27- 05-1995, directing the competent authority to include only 1/6th of the abovementioned extent of land in the holding of the 3rd respondent. A copy of the abovementioned order of the appellate authority is filed in the material papers along with the writ petition and the relevant portion of the same reads as follows: “ In view of this adangal entry and as the gift deed itself is not very clear on this aspect, the matter was further got inquired into by the Competent Authority. The Competent Authority has reported that this item is not covered by the gift deed dt.9.3.1934 and the declarant is only a shareholder in this item. The Competent Authority may, therefore include only 1/5th of the extent in this item of property i.e., 1133/5 = 226.60 Sq.Mts. in holding the declarant and issue the revised final statement accordingly.” The petitioners complaint in the present writ petition is that the 4th respondent is preventing the petitioners from entering the property i.e., their share of the Ac.0-28 cents of land in Sy.No.49/4 mentioned above and the petitioners were informed by the 4th respondent that the said property was allotted to the 4th respondent by the 1st respondent herein. The petitioners, further, complain that after they came to know the said fact, they made a representation to the 1st respondent requesting him to put them back into possession of the property and in spite of the same the 1st respondent neither took any action nor passed an order. Notwithstanding the pendency of the writ petition for over a decade in this Court and also notwithstanding the fact that the matter has been appearing in the list from 18-03-2006 and it underwent adjournments on five occasions so far, no counter is filed nor any record was produced before this Court. None of the respondents including the 4th respondent, though served with notice of hearing and represented by counsel, did not chose to file a counter affidavit. In the circumstances, the allegations made in the writ petition go un-rebutted and the writ petition is required to be allowed as prayed for. The writ petition is accordingly, allowed as prayed for, but in the circumstances, with costs, quantified at Rs.10,000/- out of which Rs.5,000/- shall be borne by the 4th respondent, to be payable to the credit of the Court Masters’ and Personal Secretaries to the Hon’ble Judges Association, High Court of A.P., within a period of one week from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. ---------------------- J.Chelameswar, J mrk 12th July 2006.