IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 18349 of 2008 Between: Chirra Rama Devi, W/o. (Late) Venkat Reddy, R/o. H.No. 3-9-213/1, Reddy Colony, Hanamkonda, Warangal. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 District Collector, Warangal. 2 Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. byits Principal Secretary, Department of Revenue, Secretariat, Hyderabad. ....RESPONDENTS 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, direction or Writ, more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring that the inaction of the first respondent in not granting assignment of agricultural land and house site to the Petitioner as per the rules applicable to the spouse of a deceased freedom ﬁghter in spite of her representation dated 20/10/2006, is arbitrary, unjust and unlawful and further direct the first respondent to forthwith do so. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.K.BALAGOPAL Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled by the petitioner aggrieved by the action of the 1st respondent – District Collector, Warangal in not granting either agricultural land or house site to her being the spouse of deceased freedom ﬁghter in receipt of pension. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Government Pleader for Revenue and at their request the matter is taken up for ﬁnal disposal at the admission stage itself. It is the case of the petitioner that she is the wife of the deceased freedom ﬁghter who received the pension under the Swatantra Sainik Samman Pension Scheme during his life time and who died in the year 1997 and after a lapse of nearly eight years after his death, she was being paid the spouse’s pension. It is her case that she is entitled for the attendant beneﬁts that the State Government has to provide for the spouse of a deceased freedom ﬁghter viz., land, as her husband was not provided with any assignment of land during his lifetime. Therefore, she made an application to the District Collector, Warangal, the respondent herein for grant of assignment of either agricultural land or house site on 20.10.2006. The grievance of the petitioner is that so far there is no response from the respondent even though she submitted several reminders after 20.10.2006. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the assignment of land to freedom ﬁghters is governed by G.O.Ms.No.185, Revenue (Assg.I) Department, Government of A.P. dated 11.3.1997 as per which a freedom ﬁghter is entitled to assignment of agricultural land in an extent of Ac.5.00 if it is wet land and Ac.10.00 in case of dry lands in their native village and 300 square yards if it is house plot at any place in the region. It is also submitted that in the event of the demise of the freedom fighter, his spouse is entitled for such allotment. In the circumstances, since the petitioner has made the representation to the respondent as long back as on 20.10.2006 and the same is still pending, the respondent is directed to consider the representation of the petitioner in terms of G.O.Ms.No.185 dated 11.3.1997 and pass appropriate orders expeditiously, preferably within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. No costs. N.V.RAMANA, DT.25.8.2008 msv ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 District Collector, Warangal. 2 Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. byits Principal Secretary, Department of Revenue, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 3 2CCs to Govt.Pleader for Revenue, High Court of A.P. Hyderabad 4 2CD copies