IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) PRESENT: THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTIETH DAY OF JULY, TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN WRIT PETITION No.5791 of 2007 Between: Kakani Baby Sarojini and another. … Petitioners And The Collector and District Magistrate, Krishna District at Machilipatnam and others. … Respondents Counsel for the petitioners: Sri S.Subba Reddy for Smt.G.Jhansi. Counsel for the respondents: GP for Land Acquisition. This Court made the following: ORDER:- This Writ Petition is filed for a Mandamus to set aside notification issued under Section 4(1) and declaration issued under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short “the Act”) for the purpose of acquisition of the petitioners’ land admeasuring Ac.0.86 cents in R.S.Nos.231/2b and 235/2 of Vanukuru village, Penamaluru Mandal, Krishna District. The petitioners have filed objections under Section 5-A of the Act, which were rejected by respondent No.1, vide: his order dated 5-3-2007. Subsequent thereto, the petitioners filed the present Writ Petition. The acquisition proceedings have been questioned mainly on three grounds, viz., (1) Without converting the agricultural land for non-agricultural use as envisaged under the provisions of the A.P. Agricultural Land (Conversion for non- agricultural purposes) Act, 2006 the petitioners’ lands cannot be acquired; (2) the petitioners are small farmers and landless poor persons; and (3) the cost of the petitioners’ lands is around Rs.50.00 lakhs and that as per the Government’s instructions, prior permission needs to be taken for acquiring any land whose value is above Rs.10.00 lakhs. As regards the first mentioned ground, this aspect is no longer res integra in view of the judgment of this Court in R.Veera Raghava Prasad Vs. District Collector, Krishna District - 2008(2) ALT 136=2008(3) ALD 198 – wherein a similar plea was rejected. With respect to the plea that the petitioners are small farmers, respondent No.1 has stated in the order that the land proposed for acquisition is adjacent to the main village and suitable for house sites. While the provisions of the Act do not exempt small farmers and landless poor persons from acquisition; however, executive instructions were issued by the State Government to avoid acquisition of the lands belonging to these categories of persons as far as possible. Since respondent No.1 appears to have found it inevitable to acquire the lands of the petitioners as there is no other suitable land available, this ground raised by the petitioners deserves to be rejected. As regards the third mentioned ground, viz., that the respondents failed to obtain prior approval of the Government for acquiring the lands as their value is above Rs.10.00 lakhs, the learned Government Pleader has candidly conceded that there are certain executive instructions to this effect. But, he stated that these executive instructions are only for the guidance of the department and the petitioners have no enforceable right. Indubitably, there is no statutory requirement for obtaining prior approval of the Government in case the value of the lands proposed to be acquired exceeds Rs.10.00 lakhs. The Executive instructions appear to be for the guidance of the departmental officers, violation of which will not per se vitiate the acquisition proceedings. While it would have been better if the respondents have followed these instructions, this court is not inclined to interfere with the proposed acquisition merely for non- obtaining of the prior permission from the Government. For the above mentioned reasons, I do not find any merit in the Writ Petition and the same is, accordingly, dismissed. As a sequel, interim order dated 23-3-2007 is vacated and WPMP No.7395 of 2007 and WVMP No.3137 of 2007 are disposed of as infructuous. --------------------------------------- C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY,J Date:20-7-2011 MNR