IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF JANUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE :PRESENT: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE: C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO. 3446 of 2007 Between: 1. Pelluru Peddamunu Swamy, S/o. Nallaiah 2. Pelluru Chinnamuna Swamy, S/o. Nallaiah. ..... Petitioners AND 1. The District Collector, Chittoor District, Chittoor. 2. The Revenue Divisional Officer, Tirupathi, Chittoor District. 3. The Mandal Revenue officer, Sathyavedu, Chittoor District. 4. Chinna Chinnamurugaiah, S/o. Amasaiah 5. Kummara Murthy, S/o. Subrahmanyam 6. Ariboina Muniraji, S/o. Kesavulu 7. Pemdluru Venkataratnamma, W/o. Raghuragavaiah 8. Maddala Ragavaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 9. Maddala Govindaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 10. Kummara Ramesh, S/o. Subrahmanyam 11. Pemdluru Munichandraiah, S/o. Raghuragavaiah 12. Ariboina Jagannatham, S/o. Kesavulu 13. Ariboina Ramanaiah, S/o. Kesavulu. 14. Gogula Munikrishnaiah, S/o. Pedda Venkatesu 15. Vemana Muni Krishnaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 16. Arineni Kesavulu, S/o. Changaiah. 17. Yamanaboyani Muni Krishnaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 18. Jadda Rama Murthy, S/o. Krishnaiah 19. Gogula Ramanaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 20. Yamana Munibabu, S/o. Munikrishnaiah 21. Gogula Raghu, S/o. Adi Kesavulu. 22. Vanka Jayamma, W/o. Narayana Swamy Yadav. 23. Gogula Chandraiah, S/o. Pedda Venkatesu 24. Gogula Munikrishnaiah, S/o. Venkataiah. (RR 4 to 24 are agriculturists and residents of Changambakam Village, Sathyavedu Mandal, Chittoor District) .....Respondents Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue an order, direction or writ, more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 2nd respondent in not conducting any enquiry and not passing any orders on the petition filed by the petitioners on 28-01-2007 with regard to the ownership of the petition schedule lands and payment of compensation as illegal, arbitrary and against the provisions of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and consequently direct the 2nd respondent to conduct a detailed enquiry and pass appropriate orders on the above said petition and till then not to pass any award or disburse any amount in favour of the respondents 4 to 24. ..2.. The Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the petition and the affidavit filed herein and upon hearing the arguments of Sri V.Sudhakar Reddy, Advocate for the Petitioners and of G.P. for Land Acquisition for the Respondents 1 to 3, the Court made the following ORDER: “ It appears, the lands belonging to the father of the petitioners were notified for acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act (for short ‘the Act’). According to the petitioners, their father died even before initiating the proceedings under the Act and instead of their names, who are successors to the property in question, the names of the unofficial respondents have been mentioned in the column of ‘enjoyers’ in the draft declarations issued under Section 6 of the Act, and no notice of any kind was issued to them and no enquiry was conducted as to the successors of the property in question. It is the grievance of the petitioners that the objections filed by them before the 2nd respondent on 28-01-2007 have not been acted upon, and the present writ petition is filed at the time when the petitioners came to know that award was going to be passed in favour of the unofficial respondents. Though served with notices, there is no representation on behalf of the unofficial respondents. In the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of respondents 1 to 3, it is stated that the Panchayat Secretary, Chengambakam, has confirmed the ownership of the lands in question in favour of the persons noted against each survey number and enjoyment of the land and no objections have been received during the award enquiry and, hence, the compensation was ordered to be paid to the awardees vide award dated. 18-03-2007. It is further stated that on 05-03-2007, a representation signed by the Advocate of the petitioners was filed before the Land Acquisition Officer, but not on 28-01-2007 as stated by the petitioners, that the same was filed after completion of award enquiry and no documentary evidence was produced in support of the title of the petitioners over the subject lands, and hence, the said representation was not considered. This approach made by the 2nd respondent-Land Acquisition Officer seems to be atrocious. When there were objections regarding the ownership of the property in question, though according to the 2nd respondent the same were received after completion of award enquiry, instead of verifying the revenue records and conducting enquiry with regard to succession of the property in question, he has simply relied on the statement made by the Panchayat Secretary, Chengambakam, and passed the award, after filing of this writ petition. In the circumstances, the 2nd respondent – Revenue Divisional Officer-cum-Land Acquisition Officer, Tirupati, shall be present before the Court on 06-02-2009 at 10.30 a.m. to explain about the enquiry that was exactly conducted by him and the basis for declaring the unofficial respondents as owners/enjoyers of the lands in question. Post on 06-02-2009.” ASSISTANT REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // for ASSISTANT REGISTRAR ..3.. To 1. The District Collector, Chittoor District, Chittoor. 2. The Revenue Divisional Officer, Tirupathi, Chittoor District. (By Speed Post/ RPAD with a direction to be present before this Court on 06-02-2009 at 10.30 a.m.) 3. The Mandal Revenue officer, Sathyavedu, Chittoor District. 4. Chinna Chinnamurugaiah, S/o. Amasaiah 5. Kummara Murthy, S/o. Subrahmanyam 6. Ariboina Muniraji, S/o. Kesavulu 7. Pemdluru Venkataratnamma, W/o. Raghuragavaiah 8. Maddala Ragavaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 9. Maddala Govindaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 10. Kummara Ramesh, S/o. Subrahmanyam 11. Pemdluru Munichandraiah, S/o. Raghuragavaiah 12. Ariboina Jagannatham, S/o. Kesavulu 13. Ariboina Ramanaiah, S/o. Kesavulu. 14. Gogula Munikrishnaiah, S/o. Pedda Venkatesu 15. Vemana Muni Krishnaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 16. Arineni Kesavulu, S/o. Changaiah. 17. Yamanaboyani Muni Krishnaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 18. Jadda Rama Murthy, S/o. Krishnaiah 19. Gogula Ramanaiah, S/o. Venkataiah 20. Yamana Munibabu, S/o. Munikrishnaiah 21. Gogula Raghu, S/o. Adi Kesavulu. 22. Vanka Jayamma, W/o. Narayana Swamy Yadav. 23. Gogula Chandraiah, S/o. Pedda Venkatesu 24. Gogula Munikrishnaiah, S/o. Venkataiah. (RR 4 to 24 are agriculturists and residents of Changambakam Village, Sathyavedu Mandal, Chittoor District) 25. Two CCs to G.P. for Land Acquisition, High Court of A.P.Hyderabad. 26. One CC to Sri V.Sudhakar Reddy, Advocate (OPUC) 27. One spare copy. SAH HIGH COURT CVRJ DATED: 23-01-2009 NOTE: POST ON 06-02-2009 ORDER WP.NO. 3446 OF 2007 DIRECTION DRAFTED BY: SAH APPROVED BY: DRAFTED ON: 27-01-2009 HIGH COURT CVRJ DATED: 23-01-2009 NOTE: POST ON 06-02-2009 ORDER WP.NO. 3446 OF 2007 DIRECTION