IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE ELEVENTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 328 of 2008 Between: Harijana Vyavasaya Coolie Sangham, Pandalapaka, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District. Rep. by its authorized members (Kukkala Apparao, (2) Vara Venkanna 3) Sri Badda Sathaiah, 4) Sri Kakara Krishnaiah 5) sri Badda Yesu, All Members Occ: Agriculture, R/o. Harijana, Pandalapaka Village, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Secretary, Revenue Department, Secretariat Building, Hyderabad. 2 The District Collector, East Godavari District, Kakinada. 3 The Revenue Divisional Officer/Sub Collector, Rajahmundry, East Godavari District. 4 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District, Kakinada. 5 The Station House Officer, Biccavole Police Station, East Godavari District, Kakinada. .....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 a Writ, order or direction, more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in trying to evict the Petitioner society from the schedule lands in Sy. No. 270 t the extent of Ac. 2-38 Cents, Sy. No. 294 admeasuring Ac.0-69 cents, Sy.No.319 admeasuring 0-05 cents which is a Government Poramboke Village, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District, as illegal, arbitrary, violativeof Fundamental rights and violative of the provisions of the constitution and fundamental principles of natural justice and consequently direct the respondents, not to evict the petitioner Society from its possession in respect of the schedule lands in Sy.No. 270 and 319 total admeasuring Ac. 3-02 cents of Pandalapaka Village, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District and pass Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.K.GANI REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA Writ Petition No. 328 of 2008 Order: The petitioner-Harijana Vyavasaya Coolie Sangham ﬁled the present writ petition questioning the action of the respondents in trying to evict the petitioner-Sangham from the lands admeasuring Ac.2-38 cents in Survey No.270, Ac.0-69 cents in Survey No.294 and Ac.0-05 cents in Survey No.319, totally admeasuring Ac.3-12 cents, situated at Pandalapaka village, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District, as illegal and arbitrary. The petitioner-Sangham states that it was formed in the year 1975 to protect the rights of the Harijan agricultural labourers, and that on 19.07.1996, the then Tahsildar of Ramachandrapuram, East Godavari District, issued patta in its favour in respect of lands admeasuring Ac.2-38 cents in Survey No.270, Ac.0-69 cents in Survey No.294 and Ac.0-05 cents in Survey No.319, totally admeasuring Ac.3-12 cents, situated at Pandalapaka village, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District. Thereafter, the petitioner-Sangham developed the said lands by spending huge sums of money and by contribution of hard work by its members, made the said lands ﬁt for cultivation, and since then the petitioner-Sangham has been in possession and cultivation of the said lands. While so, it is the case of the petitioner-Sangham that adjacent to the above said lands, there is a land in Survey No.523, admeasuring Ac.16-00, belonging to Subrahmanyeswara Swamy Temple, and during the year 2000, the Government of Andhra Pradesh allotted house site pattas to more than 500 individuals in the said land in Survey No.523, and when the Government wanted to lay a road to the said plots, through the surplus land belonging to one Sri Mushti Veera Venkata Jagannadha Sharma, the said individual approached the Tribunal against the land ceiling proceedings, and objected to the laying of the road through his land. Now it is the grievance of the petitioner-Sangham that the respondents are now trying to lay a road through the lands of the petitioner-Sangham by evicting them from the same, which is illegal and arbitrary. A detailed counter aﬃdavit is ﬁled by respondent No.3. It is stated in the counter aﬃdavit that the then Tahsildar, Ramachandrapuram, issued temporary permission to the petitioner-Sangham for cultivating only Ac.2-38 cents out of Ac.2-70 cents of land in Survey No.270 and the remaining land of Ac.0-32 cents in the said survey number is under unauthorized occupation of the petitioner-Sangham. It is stated that the land of Ac.0-32 cents, which is under unauthorized occupation of the petitioner-Sangham, is a Government Puntha Poramboke land, and the same is being used by all the surrounding farmers for transporting seed, manure etc., to their lands by using bullock carts and tractors. It is further stated that the respondents acquired land in an extent of Ac.15-53 cents in Survey Nos.274, 278 and 279 from the Endowments Department and distributed house site pattas to about 513 beneﬁciaries in the year 1999, and there is necessity to lay a road through the land occupied by the petitioner-Sangham, which is Government Puntha Poramboke land, but the petitioner-Sangham are now objecting to the laying of the road through the said land. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner-Sangham and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue (Assignment). A perusal of the record would show that, initially, when the respondents tried to lay road to the land distributed as house sites to weaker sections, through the land in Survey Nos.280/5 and 282/2, which was taken under the Land Ceiling Act, the owner of the said land initiated proceedings before the Tribunal, and got back the said land, which was declared surplus, and therefore, the said land in the said survey numbers is treated as private land, belonging to the said owner. Now the land, which is available for the purpose of laying road to connect the land distributed as house sites to weaker sections is the Government Puntha Poramboke land situated in Survey No.270, which according to the respondents is under unauthorized occupation of the petitioner-Sangham, and that except the said land there is no other land available for laying road to have access to the house sites of 513 beneficiaries. Though the learned counsel for the petitioner initially contended that the entire land of Ac.2-70 cents in Survey No.270 is in possession of the petitioner-Sangham, but ultimately he admitted that the petitioner-Sangham is in unauthorized occupation of an extent of 0-32 cents in the said survey number. He, however, submitted that since the petitioner-Sangham has raised crop in the said extent of land, two months time may be granted to the petitioner-Sangham to surrender the said extent of land to the respondent authorities after the petitioner- Sangham harvests the crop. The learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue (Assignment) expressed no objection for granting time to the petitioner-Sangham for harvesting the crop and thereafter the respondents taking possession of the land. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, and in view of the agreed stand taken by the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue (Assignment), I deem it appropriate to dispose of the writ petition with the following directions: The petitioner-Sangham are directed to surrender the land unauthorizedly occupied by them to an extent of Ac.0-32 cents, situated in Survey No.270 of Pandalapaka village, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District, to the respondent authorities after harvesting the crop, which they shall do so within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, to enable the respondents to lay a road through the said land to provide access to the persons who were given house sites. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. ___________________ N.V. RAMANA, J. Date: 11.08.2008 Nsr