IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 13819 of 2002 Between: 1 Osuri Sankara Rao, S/o. Jagannadham, R/o. Narsapur, West Godavari District. 2 Osuri Phanilakshmi, w/o. Sankararao, R/o. Narsapur, West Godavari District. 3 Osuri Jaya Annapurna Rani, W/o. Venkateswararao, R/o. Narsapur, West Godavari District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector, Eluru, West Godavari District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Narsapur, West Godavari District. 3 The Mandal Revunue Officer, Narsapur, West Godavari District. ....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.Y.V.SRINIVASAN FOR MR K.CHIDAMBARAM Counsel for the Respondents: None appeared The Court made the following : O R D E R: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in interfering with the petitioners’ possession and enjoyment of the lands admeasuring Acs.1.17 cents, Ac.0.87 cents and Acs.4.40 cents in Survey Nos.462/1C, 462/1A and 462/3 respectively of Rustumbada Village, Narasapur Mandal, West Godavari District as illegal and arbitrary. At the hearing, neither the Government Pleader nor any one on his behalf appeared for the respondents. No counter-aﬃdavit is ﬁled on their behalf. Heard Sri Y.V.Srinivasan, learned counsel representing Sri K.Chidambaram, learned counsel for the petitioners, and perused the record. The petitioners claimed that the above mentioned lands belong to them. In paragraph 2 of the aﬃdavit ﬁled in support of the writ petition, they have explained the source of their title. The petitioners also pleaded that pattadar passbooks were issued in their favour. They averred that respondent No.3 along with his and respondent No.2’s subordinates came to the land on 26-07-2002 and started taking measurements and the petitioners’ enquiries revealed that the respondents were proposing to grant pattas to the weaker sections in respect of the said lands. They have, therefore, ﬁled the present writ petition with the plea that they being the absolute owners and possessors of the above mentioned lands, they cannot be deprived of the same by the respondents without following due process of law. As noted above, no counter-aﬃdavit has been ﬁled and there is no representation by the Government Pleader, much less any record is produced at the time of hearing. In the absence of the respondents controverting the allegations contained in the aﬃdavit ﬁled in support of the writ petition, and due to their failure to produce any record, this Court has no option other than accepting the plea of the petitioners that they are the absolute owners of the property and that they are sought to be deprived of the same without following due process of law. The law is well settled that the State or anyone acting on its behalf cannot deny valuable property rights of the citizens without following the procedure prescribed under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Therefore, the writ petition is allowed and Mandamus shall go to the respondents to prevent them from dispossessing the petitioners or denying them their right to enjoy the property in any manner without following due process of law. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Dated 5th November, 2008 vrn