IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE EIGHTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 17577 of 2004 Between: 1 Mohd Abdul Nabi, s/o Sabahi, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 2 Mohd.Yakub, s/o Shaik Ali, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 3 Kirthi Bixpathi, s/o Jagannadham, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 4 Tumma Ramesh, s/o Kanaka Mallu, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 5 Tumma Saraiah, s/o Kanakamallu, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 6 Mache Veeraiah, s/o Sayanna, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 7 K.Sridevi, w/o late K.Srinivas, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 8 K.Laxmi Kantha, w/o Lingaiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 9 K.Sarangapani, s/o K.Kanakaiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 10 Kandakattla Rajaiah, s/o Balaiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 11 Neelam Narsaiah, s/o Sailu, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 12 D.Mallesham, s/o late Saraiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 13 Doma Mallaiah, s/o Komaraiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 14 Doma Parvathalu, s/o Komaraiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 15 D.Saraiah, s/o Sayanna, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 16 Neelam Upendramma, w/o Chennaiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 17 Gennarapu Mallaiah, s/o Pochaiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 18 Neelam Narsaiah, s/o Sayabu, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 19 Gennarapu Mallaiah, s/o Pochalu, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 20 Gennarapu Mysaiah, s/o Pochalu, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 21 Poocha Yellamma, w/o Lingaiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 22 Gennarapu Ramulu, s/o Pochalu, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 23 Gennarapu Mallaiah, s/o Pochalu, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 24 Doma Parvathalu, s/o Komaraiah, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 25 Doma Mallesham, s/o Sayanna, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 26 Doma Saraiah, s/o Sayanna, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 27 Mohd.Mashook, s/o Mohammad, r/o Urus, Warangal District. 28 Mohad Gafurr, s/o Shaikelli, r/o Urus, Warangal District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector, Warangal, Warangal District. 2 The Assistant Collector, Warangal, Warangal District. 3 The Executive Engineer, R&B Division, Warangal. 4 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Hanamkonda Mandal, Warangal District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.J.VENKATESWARA REDDY Counsel for respondents 1, 2 and 4: AGP FOR LAND ACQUISITION Counsel for respondent No.3: AGP FOR ROADS AND BUILDINGS. The Court made the following : O R D E R: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of Mandamus to declare the inaction of the respondents in ﬁnalizing the land acquisition proceedings in respect of the lands in Survey Nos.278, 279 and 280 admeasuring Acs.4.13 guntas of Ram Gopalapuram, Thimmapur Village, Hanamkonda Mandal, Warangal District, belonging to the petitioners and acquired for widening of road leading from Rangashaipet to Chinta Nekkonda of Warangal District, as arbitrary. The petitioners also sought for a consequential direction to the respondents to pay compensation to them in respect of the said lands. While the case of the petitioners is that in the process of widening of the existing road from 40 feet to 100 feet from Rangashaipet to Chinta Nekkonda, the properties belonging to the petitioners were utilized in the year 1985, and that neither the lands were acquired nor compensation was paid to them. In the counter-aﬃdavit ﬁled by respondent No.3, he has stated that the Roads and Buildings Department has taken over the existing road on 31-10-1977 with a length of 30 kilometers and the petitioners’ lands fall in the stretch from 0/0 to 4/0 km. It is further stated that the width of the land in that stretch was 40 feet and it remained the same even now. Having regard to the said stand, this Court on 29-07-2008 directed the District Collector, Warangal to ﬁle his personal aﬃdavit after getting the width of the road veriﬁed and speciﬁcally state in the aﬃdavit whether the road was widened after 31-10-1977 and if so, whether any of the lands of the petitioners were utilized for the said purpose. In compliance with the said order, the District Collector, Warangal, ﬁled aﬃdavit on 31-08-2008, wherein he, inter alia, stated that after 31-10-1977, road widening work was not taken up by the Roads and Buildings Department except forming BT road on the existing 40 feet road, which included berms on both sides. He also stated that there is no proposal for widening of the road and no requisition is pending before him for acquiring the lands for the said purpose. After taking time on 01-09-2008, Sri J.Venkateswara Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioners, fairly stated that though the petitioners are disputing the contents of the aﬃdavit of the District Collector, since the issue whether road was widened and the lands of the petitioners were utilized for such widening purpose or not falls within the realm of disputed questions of fact, he submitted that the petitioners may be relegated to ﬁle a civil suit before the Civil Court of competent jurisdiction. In view of this submission of the learned counsel, the writ petition is disposed of, without expressing any opinion on the merits, with liberty to the petitioners to file a civil suit. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY J Dated 8th September, 2008 vrn