IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE ELEVENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 11962 of 2000 Between: ..... PETITIONER AND .....RESPONDENT 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 Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.P.VEERA REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: . The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN Writ Petition No.11962 OF 2000 ORDER: The grievance of the petitioner in this writ petition is that an extent of Ac.164-60 of land in Panyam Village in Panyam Mandal, Kurnool District which belongs to the wakf institution by name Aasar-E.Shariff has been encroached upon and that no action was being taken by the respondents to have the encroachers evicted. S r i S.M.Subhani, Learned Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of respondents 1 and 2, would state that there has been no negligence on the part of the Wakf Board or its oﬃcials, that they have acted in the best interests of the wakf and have constantly reminded the authorities of the urgent need to take action to protect the said Wakf property. Learned Counsel would state that the Wakf Board had issued notice under Section 51 of the Wakf Act, 1995, read with Rule 21-A of the Rules, on 17.9.1998 and, since no objections were ﬁled by the encroachers, the Wakf Board, vide letter dated 8.11.1999, had requested the District Collector, under Section 52(1), to obtain and deliver possession of the said property. Learned counsel would inform this Court that the 3rd respondent had passed orders on 12.12.2002, under Section 52(2) of the Act, directing removal of the encroachments, that the encroachers had approached the Wakf Tribunal by way of Appeal No.2 of 2003 and that, eventually, the said appeal was dismissed by the Wakf Tribunal on 22.1.2003. While informing this Court that the said order of the Wakf Tribunal had attained ﬁnality, and that there was nothing which prevented the District Collector from taking further action under Section 52(2) of the Act, Learned Standing Counsel would place before this Court a copy of the proceedings dated 1.11.2008 whereby the Chief Executive Oﬃcer of the A.P. State Wakf Board had again requested the District Collector & Magistrate, Kurnool District to direct the M.R.O. Panyam to take immediate steps to evict the encroachers, to take possession of the land and hand over the same to the Wakf institution in respect of Sy.No.621/A1 attached to the said Wakf institution. Learned Standing Counsel would submit that the Wakf Board had done all that it could within its powers to ensure that the encroachers were evicted and that they cannot be faulted in this regard. From the facts stated above, it is evident that since the Wakf Tribunal has rejected the appeal preferred by the encroachers, and the said appeal has attained ﬁnality, it is the District Collector who is required to act in furtherance of the powers vested in him under Section 52(2) of the Wakf Act to have the encroachers evicted. Neither has a counter aﬃdavit been ﬁled on behalf of the 3rd respondent – District Collector nor is there any representation on his behalf before this Court. Ends of justice would be met if the 3rd respondent is directed to take further steps in exercise of the powers vested in him, under Section 52(2) of the Wakf Act, to have the encroachments relating to the Wakf institution removed. The entire exercise in this regard shall be completed within a period of 3 months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and vacant possession of the said land shall be handed over to the 1st respondent – Wakf Board within the aforesaid period. The writ petition stands disposed of accordingly. No costs. ___________ 11-11-2008 asp