IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 7379 of 2008 Between: 1 Uppalapati Krishna Murthy S/o. Late Sanyasi Raju 9-208, Shankernagar, Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam. 2 Korasala Apparao S/o. Venkanna Dora R/o. Gowripatnam, Chodavaram Mandal, Visakhapatnam. 3 Korasala Sathibabu S/o. Apparao R/o. Gowripatnam, Chodavaram Mandal, Visakhapatnam. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector, Visakhapatnam. 2 The Tahsildar, Mandal Revenue Officer, Pendurthi, Visakhapatnam. .....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 any writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the inaction on the part of 2nd respondent in holding the enquiry under Section 8 of A.P. (A.A.) Inams and Abolition & Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1956 as per the clariﬁcation sought for in Rc.No.173/2006/1A dated 31.05.2006 of the 2nd respondent is arbitrary, illegal and consequently direct the 2nd respondent to ﬁnalize the enquires under Section 8 of A.P. (A.A.) Inams and Abolition & Conversion into Ryotwari Act, 1956 and issue appropriate patta in favour of the petitioners Ac.23.50 Cents in favour of 1st Petitioner and Ac.19.50 cents in favour of Petitioners 2 & 3, out of 132.30 cents in land in S.No.3 of Vepagunta Village. Counsel for the Petitioner: DR.P.B.VIJAY KUMAR Counsel for the Respondent.: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA W.P. No. 7379 of 2008 O r d e r: Petitioners claim that they are the occupants of the land of an extent of Ac.19.50 cents and Ac.23.50 cents in Sy.No.3 of Vepagunta village since 62 years and therefore, they are entitled for permanent occupancy rights under Sections 7 and 8 of A.P (A.A.) Inams (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1956 in respect of the above lands. The petitioners state that they have been in possession of the above lands and in fact, a Certiﬁcate bearing L.Dis.No.864/89, dated 30.11.1989 was given to the 1st petitioner by the oﬃce of the 2nd respondent declaring his possession and a similar certiﬁcate was given on 13.3.2006 to the 2nd petitioner’s family also. It is further stated that the persons, who are in occupation of the said land, are entitled to be declared as tenants and permanent occupancy rights have to be issued, and though the enquiry under Section 7 of the Act was completed, a patta was granted in favour of the Devasthanam in respect of the land covered by S.No.3 and that the further enquiry under Section 8(1) of the Act as to the occupancy rights of the tenants, has not yet been completed due to inaction of the 2nd respondent. Hence, the petitioners seek a direction to the 2nd respondent for holding enquiry under Section 8 of the Act. This matter was admitted and Respondents No.1 & 2 ﬁled a common counter-aﬃdavit. It is stated in the counter- aﬃdavit that the enquiry under Section 7 of the Act was completed and a ryotwari patta under the provisions of AP Inams Abolition Act, 1956 was issued in favour of Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Vari Devasthanam, Simhachalam. However, the enquiry under Section 8 of the Act could not be completed as the Devathanam authorities have not so far furnished the details of the lease holders, kowldars and occupants of the land, as a result of which, the occupants were subjected to hardship and the oﬃcial respondents are unable to complete the enquiry. It is further stated that on furnishing the information, they will complete the enquiry. When the matter is taken up for hearing, it is also brought to the notice of this Court by the learned Counsel for the petitioners that the MRO addressed a letter, dated 31.5.2006 seeking permission and instructions to complete the enquiry under Section 8 of the Act for recognizing the rights of the tenants/occupants of the land from the crucial date. Even then, the Collector has not so far given instructions. At this stage, it is submitted by the learned Assistant Government Pleader that the authorities are issuing notices and they will complete the enquiry and grant certiﬁcates to the occupants within a period of six months. Under the above facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, I feel it appropriate to direct the 1st respondent-Collector to grant necessary permission or instructions to the Tahsildar concerned, so as to complete the enquiry in question and issue necessary occupancy certiﬁcates to the petitioners, if they are otherwise eligible, within a period of six months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. _________________ N.V. RAMANA, J. Date: 16th October, 2008. Nn THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 7379 of 2008 16.10.2008