The Hon'ble Sri Justice C.V.Nagarjuna Reddy Writ Petition No.31149 of 2011 Date: 27-12-2011 Between: S.Sreeramachandra Rao and another ..... Petitioners AND 1.The State of Andhra Pradesh, Revenue (L.A.) Department, Rep. by its Prl.Secretary to Govt., Secretariat, Hyderabad and 3 others. .....Respondents Counsel for the Petitioners: Mr.N.Subba Rao Counsel for the respondents: AGP for Land Acquisition The Court made the following : Order: This Writ Petition is filed for a Mandamus to set aside notification in Roc.No.G2/187/2007 (SW), dated 11-12- 2008, and declaration, in Roc.No.G2/187/2007 (SW), dated 04-02-2010, issued and published under Sections 4(1) and 6 respectively of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act’) as illegal and arbitrary. Petitioner Nos.1 and 2 claim to be the owners and possessors of wet land admeasuring Ac.0-62 cents in Survey No.348/2 Part and Ac.0-38 cents in Survey No.348/1 respectively of Pandithavilluru Village, Poduru Mandal, West Godavari District. Both the petitioners felt aggrieved by the impugned notification issued under Section 4 (1) of the Act and the consequent proceedings taken out for acquiring their lands. At the hearing, the only ground urged by Sri N.Subba Rao, learned Counsel for the petitioners, is that the respondents failed to publish the declaration under Section 6 of the Act within the stipulated period of one year as envisaged under second proviso to Section 6 (1) of the Act. According to the learned Counsel, notification under Section 4 (1) of the Act was last published on 11-12-2008, while declaration was published on 04-02- 2010, and that therefore, as there is more than one year gap between the date of the last publication of notification under Section 4 (1) and declaration under Section 6 of the Act, the whole acquisition proceedings have lapsed. In W.P.No.15899 of 2011, filed with identical allegations, respondent No.3 filed a counter-affidavit wherein he has averred that the substance of the notification under Section 4 (1) of the Act was published in the locality on 16-02-2009. As a copy of the said publication was not filed along with the counter-affidavit, this Court has summoned the record. Accordingly, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition produced the record, a perusal of which would show that the notification was published in the locality i.e. the land, which is proposed to be acquired, on 16-02-2009. The file bears the signature of the Village Revenue Officer, Pandithavilluru Village, Podur Mandal, who certified such publication. Similarly, the signatures along with the official stamps of Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat and Panchayat Raj Extension Officer of Mandal Parishad, Podur, certifying that the notification was displayed in the notice boards of their respective offices on 16-02-2009, are also found in the file. Under Section 4 (1) of the Act, the last of the dates of publication and giving of such public notice is treated as the date of publication of the notification. Under second proviso to Section 6 (1) of the Act, the stipulated period of one year shall be reckoned from the date of publication of notification, which shall, necessarily, mean the last of dates of the public notice as envisaged under Section 4 (1) of the Act. As the record clearly reveals that the last of the publications was made on 16-02-2009, publication of declaration under Section 6, which was made on 06-02-2010, is well within the period of one year contemplated by Section 6 of the Act. Hence, there is no illegality in the publication of the impugned declaration. No other point has been urged by the learned Counsel for the petitioner. For the above-mentioned reasons, the Writ Petition is dismissed. As a sequel, WPMP.No.38655 of 2011, filed by the petitioner for interim relief, is disposed of as infructuous. ______________________ (C.V.Nagarjuna Reddy, J) 27th December, 2011 LUR