THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. CHANDRAIAH WRIT PEITITON No.27267 of 2009 DATED:23.12.2010 BETWEEN: SRI VARANASI SEETA RAMA DEEKSHITULU. …PETITIONER. AND: THE DISTICT COLLECTOR, WEST GODAVARI & OTHERS …RESPONDENTS. THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. CHANDRAIAH WRIT PEITITON No.27267 OF 2009 ORDER: - This writ petition is filed by the petitioner seeking for a writ of mandamus to declare the proceedings of the 1st respondent in Roc.No:G4/5871/08 (Gen) dated 28.9.2009 and the consequential declaration dated 21.11.2009 issued under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for the purpose of acquiring the land of the petitioner admeasuring Ac.0.08 cents in R.S.No:178/2 of Tanuku Revnue Village and Mandal, West Godavari District as illegal and without jurisdiction. The case of the petitioner is that he is the absolute owner and possessor of the land admeasuring Ac.10.50 cents in R.S.No:178/2 of Tanuku Revenue village and Mandal, West Godavari District. There is a naturally formed tank by name Chintagunta Cheruvu adjacent to his land and the same is being used by the farmers around the tank for the drinking and washing purposes of their cattle and sheep etc since time immemorial and thus the ryots have acquired the easementary rights in this regard. The tank vested in Gram panchayat, Tanuku and later, the same was as Municipality in the year 1980. While so, some councillors in the Municipality with a view to cause damage to the petitioner’s property, proposed the approach road to the said tank and the said proposal was opposed by the Ryotu Sangham who also made representations to the Municipality and also to respondents-1 and 2. The Gram panchayat and later, the Municipality have been auctioning the leasehold rights of fishing in the said tank. The third respondent- Municipality has invented a new purpose of using the said land as a summer storage tank and the 2nd respondent in his report dated 30.6.2008 to the District Collector while rejecting the dissenting notice of the Councillors supported the cause of the Ryotu Sangham to keep it for agricultural operations and he has even reported that the administrative sanction was granted by the government for the summer storage tank at Peravali village, which has got an extent of Ac.64.282 cents near Nidadavolu-Mogalthuru Canal and therefore, there is absolutely no need for the proposed approach road. Thus, there is no public purpose involved in the impugned acquisition. It is the further case of the petitioner that the 1st respondent has issued the notification under section 4 (1) of the Act vide proceedings Roc.No:G4/5871/08 (Gen) dated 10.12.2008, which published in the A.P.Gazette dated 12.12.2008 and in the Indian Express English Daily dated 15.12.2008 directing the 2nd respondent to conduct enquiry under section 5-A of the Act. The petitioner submitted his objections on 24.12.2008 to the 2nd respondent and without conducting any enquiry as required under the Rules and without giving an opportunity for personal hearing, the 1st respondent passed the impugned order dated 28.9.2009 and the consequential declaration under section 6 of the Act. The approach road will become a security hazard to the nearby ryots and agricultural inputs and live stocks and therefore, a representation was made to the local M.L.A who gave a letter to the District Collector to favourably consider the request of the Ryotu Sangham. The apprehension of the ryots is that in course of time, the tank will be converted for house sites and therefore, they have even come forward to offer an alternative land and this was favourably recommended not only by the local M.L.A and also the Minister for Agriculture who is also the District Incharge Minister. Hence, the present writ petition is filed. On behalf of the respondents, the 2nd respondent-Revenue Divisional Officer, Kovvuru, West Godavari District filed the counter contending that on the requisition made by the Tanuku Municipality, an extent of Ac.0.08 cents covered by S.No:178 of Tanuku village of Tanuku Mandal has been notified for acquisition for formation of approach road to Chintagunta Cheruvu situated in R.S.No:182/1 admeasuring Ac.2.06 cents. The draft notification under section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act pertaining to this case has been approved by the Collector, West Godavari in proceedings Roc.No:G4- 5871/2008, General dated 10.12.2008 and it was got published in the following modes: 1.in A.P. State Gazette Extraordinary Issue No:74 Eluru dated 12.12.2008 2.in Ratnagarbha Daily dated 14.12.2008 3.in India Express Daily dated 15.12.2008. 4.Contents of the notification published in the locality on 12.1.2009. It is further stated in the counter that after publication of 4 (1) Notification in the manner prescribed, notice in form-3 has been issued to the known land owner i.e., the petitioner besides publication on 22.12.2009 requiring the land owner or the persons interested in the land to lodge their objections if any to the proposed acquisition and to attend the 5A enquiry scheduled to be conducted on 12.1.2009. 5A enquiry has been conducted as per law and the report thereunder has been submitted by the Land Acquisition Officer to the Collector, West Godavari in his Roc.No:A/1198/07, dated 24.6.2009. Thereafter, the Collector, West Godavari in proceedings No:Roc.G4/5871/2008 (General) dated 23.7.2009 directed the Land Acquisition Officer and Revenue Divisional Officer, Kovvur to submit a detailed report on the objections along with the report of the Municipal Commissioner, Tanuku. Accordingly, the Land Acquisition Officer and Municipal Commissioner has submitted the further reports and after considering the objections of the land owner, the District Collector, West Godavari in proceedings Roc.No:G4/5871/2008 (General), dated 28.9.2009 has issued orders under section 5A (2) of the Act rejecting the objections filed by the petitioner. The 5A decision of the District Collector has been communicated to the Land owner and the draft declaration proposals under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act were accordingly submitted for approval of the District Collector, West Godavari and the District Collector has issued the draft declaration under section 6 of the Act in proceedings No:ROC.G4/5871/2008 (General), dated 21.11.2009 and the same was also got published in the following modes: 1.in A.P. State Gazette Extraordinary Issue No:82 Eluru dated 21.11.2009 2.in Vaartha Daily, dated 28.11.2009 3.in Jai Kethanam Daily dated 28.11.2009. 4.Contents of the notification published in the locality on 30.11.2009. At this stage, the petitioner has filed the writ petition and obtained status quo orders on 15.12.2009. Therefore, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned G.P for Land Acquisition and perused the material available on record. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is the absolute owner and possessor of the land in question and some councillors in the Municipality with a view to cause damage to the petitioner’s property, proposed the approach road to the tank in question and the said proposal was opposed by the Ryotu Sangham who also made representations to the Municipality and also to respondents-1 and 2 and on the said representations, the proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act have been initiated for acquiring the land in question. It is further submitted that there is absolutely no necessity to issue the notification and there is no purpose existing at all for acquiring the land in question. On the other hand, the learned G.P for Land Acquisition submits that proceedings have been issued with a view to acquire the land in question and necessary procedure as contemplated under the provisions of the Act, has been followed and therefore, the impunged notification does not suffer from any legal infirmity. The material on record makes it clear that after publication of 4 (1) Notification in the manner prescribed, notice in form-3 has been issued to the petitioner requiring the land owner or the persons interested in the land to lodge their objections if any to the proposed acquisition and to attend the 5A enquiry scheduled to be conducted on 12.1.2009. 5A enquiry has been conducted as per law and the report there under has been submitted by the Land Acquisition Officer to the Collector, West Godavari in his Roc.No:A/1198/07, dated 24.6.2009. Thereafter, the Collector, West Godavari in proceedings No:Roc.G4/5871/2008 (General) dated 23.7.2009 directed the Land Acquisition Officer and Revenue Divisional Officer, Kovvur to submit a detailed report on the objections along with the report of the Municipal Commissioner, Tanuku. Accordingly, the Land Acquisition Officer and Municipal Commissioner has submitted the further reports and after considering the objections of the land owner, the District Collector, West Godavari in proceedings Roc.No:G4/5871/2008 (General), dated 28.9.2009 has issued orders under section 5A (2) of the Act rejecting the objections filed by the petitioner. The 5A decision of the District Collector has been communicated to the Land owner and the draft declaration proposals under section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act were accordingly submitted for approval of the District Collector, West Godavari and the District Collector has issued the draft declaration under section 6 of the Act in proceedings No:ROC.G4/5871/2008 (General), dated 21.11.2009 and the same was also got published in the official gazette besides the other modes of communication. It is also seen from the counter that the object of converting the Chinthagunta cheruvu as drinking water tank is to cater the need of drinking water to the dwellers residing in the nearby and therefore, the authorities have applied for acquisition of Ac.0.08 cents of the land of the petitioner for the purpose of laying an approach road to the tank in question. It is further seen from the counter that even the proposed approach road is useful to the ryotu sangham for the purpose of drinking purpose as well as the agricultural requirements. Even the acquisition of the land in question will not affect the agricultural operations of the petitioner in as much as Undrajavaram channel is passed by the side of his land. The entire material on record clearly goes to show that after following due process of law, the draft notification under section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act and the Draft declaration under section 6 of the Land acquisition Act were issued by the authorities for acquiring the land in question in the interest of the public at large. In this back ground of the matter, I feel that the approach of the petitioner on the mere apprehensions that the purpose of acquiring the land, is not true and reliable and the acquired land may be used for some other purpose, is nothing but an omnibus one and apart from that, the same is beyond the scope of the writ petition. Hence, I see no valid reason to interfere with the proceedings in question by invoking the provisions of Article 226 of the Constitution of India and as such, this writ petition is devoid of merits and thereby, the same is liable to be dismissed. Accordingly, this writ petition is dismissed. No costs. ___________________ Justice G.Chandraiah Date:23.12.2010 Gurc. THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G. CHANDRAIAH WRIT PEITITON No.27267 of 2009 DATED:23.12.2010