IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTY EIGHTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION No : 6649 of 2008 Between: Kudapa Shiva Kumar S/o. Late Raghavaiah R/o. Pusugudem Village, Mulakalapalli Mandal, Khammam Dist. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Additional Agent to Government & Project Officer, I.T.D.A., Bhadrachalam, Khammam Dsit. 2 The Special Deputy Collector, Tribal Welfare, Bhadrachalam, Khammam Dsit. 3 The Tahasildar, Mulakalapalli Mandal, Khammam Dsit. .....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 a writ, or direction preferably writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 1st respondent in not passing appropriate orders either on the stay petition or on the appeal itself filed on 25.02.2008 against the order of 2nd respondent dt.14.09.2007 in LTR. Case No.974/2000/MKP as illegal, arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice and consequently direct the 1st respondent to consider and dispose of the stay petition or the appeal itself within a reasonable time and further direct the respondents or their subordinate staff not to dispossess me from possession and enjoyment of the property in Sy.No.100 & 101 measuring an extent of Acs.4-30 gts and Acs.1-00 gts situated at Pusugudem Village, Mulakalapalli Mandal of Khammam Dist., pending disposal of the appeal on the file of the 1st respondent, and pass Counsel for the Petitioner : Sri Kowturu Vinayaka Kumar Counsel for the Respondents : GP for Social Welfare The Court made the following O R D E R: Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Social Welfare. The Special Deputy Collector, Tribal Welfare, Bhadrachalam, Khammam District passed orders in his proceedings in LTR Case No. 974/2000/MKP against the writ petitioner herein on 14.09.2007 ordering his ejectment from out of the land of an extent of Ac.4.30 guntas and Ac.1.00 in Survey Nos. 100 and 101 of Pusugudem Village of Mulakalapalli Mandal, Khammam District. It is not in dispute that against this order of the Special Deputy Collector, an appeal is provided to the Additional Agent to the Government and Project Officer, I.T.D.A., Bhadrachalam, Khammam District under Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation Act, 1959. The writ petitioner has asserted that such an appeal had been preferred and along with the appeal, an interlocutory application was also moved seeking stay of the operation of the orders of the Special Deputy Collector dated 14.09.2007, but the 1st respondent did not choose to pass orders either in the stay petition or in the main appeal. Therefore, the present writ petition has been instituted. Once an appeal is preferred to the 1st respondent, it is only expected that it will be attended to at the earliest convenient time. If the appeal itself cannot be decided, the interlocutory application moved by the parties seeking urgent interim orders could be attended to in the meantime. In these set of circumstances, I consider it appropriate to direct the 1st respondent to entertain, hear and decide the appeal preferred against the orders of the Special Deputy Collector, Bhadrachalam dated 14.09.2007 within six months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Till such time, the status quo existing as of now with regard to possession be maintained. It is, however, open to the 1st respondent to independently consider the interlocutory application moved by the writ petitioner herein and decide the same even before it decides the appeal preferred to it. With this, the writ petition stands disposed of. (NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J) 28th March, 2008 ksld ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{MSN}