THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.22408 of 2001 Dated:26.08.2009 Between: S.Radhakrishna Reddy, And others. …Petitioners and The District Collector, Nellore, Nellore District. And others. …Respondents. THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.22408 of 2001 ORDER: Aggrieved by the action of respondent Nos.1 and 2 in proposing to assign the land comprised in survey No.55/2 of Vedayapalem Village, Nellore Town, to landless poor persons, the present writ petition is filed. The case of the petitioners is as follows. Vedayapalem Inam Village was taken over by the Government under the Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Area) Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948. Konduru Subbaraju and Chamarti Chenchamma filed an application for grant of patta for an extent of Acs.10.70 cents in R.S.No.55 (correlated to old survey Nos.51 and 52). The Assistant Settlement Officer, Nellore, granted ryotwari patta in their favour in proceedings S.R.No.119/11(a)/63/NLR, dated 26.06.1968. These patta holders sold the land to Konduru Rama Raju under registered sale deed dated 08.10.1984. The purchaser laid out the land and sold house plots to various persons. The petitioners purchased plot Nos.9, 10, 12, 47 and 48 under various sale deeds in 1992. First petitioner purchased plot No.9 under registered sale deed dated 24.12.1992. Second petitioner purchased plot No.10 under registered sale deed dated 24.12.1992. Third petitioner purchased plot No.12 under registered sale deed dated 24.12.1992. And fourth petitioner purchased plot Nos.47 and 48 under registered sale deed dated 07.05.1992. All the petitioners are in possession of the property. It is also stated that in 1996-1997 an extent of Acs.3.22 cents in survey No.55/1 was acquired for formation of railway line and compensation was paid to the landowners vide Award No.1/96-97, dated 22.11.1996. It is further case of the petitioners that in 2001 when there was an attempt by the land grabbers to take over the land, the petitioners and others lodged a complaint with Superintendent of Police for appropriate action. As no action was taken, W.P.No.18462 of 2001 was filed, and this Court disposed of the same on 04.09.2001 directing the Officials to take necessary action. Thereafter, first respondent initiated steps to assign the land comprised in survey No.55. The plot owners association issued a notice on 11.10.2001 requesting not to assign the patta land. The petitioners also got issued a legal notice. It is alleged that without responding to the letters and legal notice, respondents are taking steps to assign the land in favour of land grabbers. Therefore, the present writ petition is filed. The Joint Collector, Nellore, filed counter affidavit. The grant of patta to Konduru Subbaraju and Chamarti Chenchamma and acquisition of land for formation of railway line are admitted. It is also admitted that in August 2001 several persons encroached upon the land in survey No.55 admeasuring Acs.6.00 and erected 297 huts. The District Collector orally directed the Mandal Revenue Officer and the Revenue Divisional Officer to conduct enquiry and submit a report. The Revenue Divisional Officer submitted a report on 20.09.2001 to the effect that Konduru Subbaraju and Chamarti Chenchamma got their names incorporated in 10(1) account and that there are no orders of Settlement Officer for incorporation of changes in the Village Accounts. Therefore, he requested the District Collector for a denovo enquiry on the ground that there is a suspicion regarding genuineness of grant of settlement patta in favour of original patta holders. The matter was then referred to Director of Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad. The said Laboratory by their report dated 18.07.2002 opined that the signatures on S.R.No.119/11(a)/63/NLR, dated 26.06.1968, did not tally with the accepted signatures sent from the Collector’s Office. In view of this, a proposal was sent to Director of Survey, Settlement and Land Records, for denovo enquiry. Accordingly, the Director has initiated suomoto enquiry, and sent notices to all the parties concerned in Case No.20/2002/H2, which is pending. The allegation that the respondents initiated proceedings to assign the land is denied. It is stated that the respondents would initiate action for assignment of land only after receipt of the orders from the Director of Survey, Settlement and Land Records. This Court heard the learned Counsel for the petitioners and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue (Andhra Area). The relevant documents and affidavits have been perused. The respondents denied that there is any proposal to assign the land to land grabbers. They, however, stated that the enquiry suomoto initiated by Director of Settlements into the grant of ryotwari patta to Konduru Subbaraju and Chamarti Chenchamma is pending, and notices are issued to all the parties. If that be so, Director may issue notices to the petitioners also before passing any adverse orders, as the petitioners have purchased the plots from the vendee of the original patta holders under registered sale deeds for valid consideration. Till the exercise is completed, needless to mention that petitioners cannot be dispossessed nor their land can be assigned to third parties. The Writ petition, with the above observations and directions, is accordingly disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. _______________ (V.V.S.RAO, J) 26.08.2009 Note: Send a copy of this order to the Director of Survey, Settlement and Land Records, Hyderabad. B/o. vs