THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No. 14683 OF 2010 Dated: 25-06-2010 Between: K.N.V. Rameswara Rao ... PETITIONER AND Government of Andhra Pradesh, rep., by its Secretary, Revenue Deparment, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad and three others ... RESPONDENTS THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No. 14683 OF 2010 ORDER: Upon the application of the petitioner seeking permission for conversion of his agricultural land admeasuring Acs.3.18 cents in Survey Nos. 344/1E, 344/1D, 344/1B, 344/1C and 344/2 of Kokkirapally Village, Yellamanchili Mandal, Visakhapatnam District under the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Land (Conversion for Non- Agricultural Purposes) Act, 2006 (for short ‘the Conversion Act’), the Revenue Divisional Officer, Narsipatnam issued notice dated 07-08- 2009 directing the petitioner to remit conversion charges to the tune of Rs.1,00,500/- within fifteen days from the date of the said notice failing which the authority stated that the petitioner’s application would not be processed further. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioner filed an appeal before the District Revenue Officer, Visakhapatnam which was returned with the endorsement dated 26-03-2010 at the admission stage directing the petitioner to file an appeal after issuance of further proceedings, if any, by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Narsipatnam according to the provisions of the Conversion Act. The petitioner seeks to challenge the primary authority’s notice dated 07-08-2009 in the present writ petition in view of rejection of his appeal. In view of the statutory appellate remedy made available to the petitioner against the decision of the primary authority in computing the conversion charges at Rs.1,00,500/-, the appellate authority ought to have entertained the appeal filed by the petitioner and passed orders thereupon in accordance with law instead of directing the petitioner to await further proceedings by the primary authority. The rejection of the petitioner’s appeal is therefore not in accordance with law. The appellate authority being the District Revenue Officer, Visakhapatnam is accordingly directed to entertain the petitioner’s appeal and pass reasoned orders in the appeal or in the stay application, if any, filed by the petitioner in the said appeal expeditiously, and in any event not later than two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The writ petition is disposed of with the above direction. No costs. SANJAY KUMAR, J 25-06-2010 ks