IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 11290 of 2009 Between: Sri Jagannatha Fishermen Inland Cooperative Society Rep. by its President, Karunya Khaitro, S/o. Lavanya R/o. Vaddithandra Village, Santhabommali Mandal, Srikakulam District. (Regd. No. 1-98), Vaddithandra Village, Santhabommali Mandal, Srikakulam District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The District Collector Srikakulam District at Srikakulam. 2 The Commissioner and Director of Fisheries Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. 3 The Deputy Director of Fisheries, Srikakulam District at Srikakulam. 4 The Tahasildar Santhabommali Mandal, Srikakulam 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 will be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction declaring the action of the 1st Respondent in not considering the representation of the Petitioner society dated 08-09-2008 for providing a rehabilitation package to the members of the society is not legal, arbitrary and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the Respondents not to dispossess the members of the Petitioner society from the leased area till the disposal of the representation dated 08-09-2008 and further direct the 1st Respondent to consider for providing similar rehabilitation package to the members of the Petitioner society as provided to others vide proceedings in Rc.No.272/2008 E3 dated 23-08-2008. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.O.MANOHER REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR FISHERIES The Court made the following : ORDER: Petitioner is a society registered under the provisions of the A.P. Cooperative Societies Act,1964 comprising 527 members residing at Santhabommali, Kothur and Vaddithandra Villages in Santhabommali Mandal, Srikakulam District. They filed this writ petition stating that they were granted leasehold rights by the Mandal Revenue Officer, Santhabommali in Rc.No.146/06/A dated 18.9.2006 for the fasli year 1416 to 1418 for catching the fish in the swamp area including the fishing rights in lingudukattu, pitarikattu and Kakarapalli swamps. While so, the State Government is intending to allot the said swamp area for the purpose of establishment of a coal based thermal power project with a capacity of 2640 megawatts and is proposing to alienate the said land in favour of the East Coast Energy Private Limited. In this regard, when there was a public meeting, the members of the petitioner society have represented to the authorities, including the 1st respondent herein that they would be deprived of their livelihood if the said project is established and, therefore, requested to provide them with alternate means of livelihood by providing a rehabilitation project. In fact, the 1st respondent has agreed to provide certain package and the members of the petitioner society have also agreed to enter into a tripartite agreement with the proposed developer. The grievance of the petitioner is that thereafter no further action has been taken. Hence this writ petition Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Fisheries for the respondents and at their request the writ petition is taken up for final disposal at the admission stage itself. Issue Rule nisi. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in similar circumstances, another fishermen cooperative society has filed a Writ Petition before this court being W.P.No.12220 of 2008 and this court vide order dated 24.6.2008 disposed of the said writ petition directing the respondents therein to consider the representation of the said society. Pursuant to the said directions, the 1st respondent herein has issued proceedings dated 23.8.2008 announcing certain rehabilitation packages for the fishermen who were effected by the establishment of the power project in swamp area. Coming to know the said fact, the petitioner society has also made a representation to the 1st respondent – District Collector on 8.9.2008 to provide a rehabilitation package to its members also but so far no action has been initiated. The learned Government Pleader for Fisheries submits that since admittedly the representation of the petitioner society dated 8.9.2008 is still pending consideration with the 1st respondent, instead of this Court going into the merits of the matter, the authorities may be directed to consider and dispose of the said representation in accordance with law, for which course of action, the petitioner also agreed. In the circumstances, without going into the merits of the matter, the 1st respondent – District Collector, Srikakulam is directed to consider and dispose of the representation of the petitioner society dated 8.9.2008 taking into consideration the fact that in similar circumstances, another society was already provided with certain rehabilitation packages pursuant to the judgment of this court dated 24.6.2008 in W.P.No.122220 of 2008. This exercise shall be completed as early as possible, preferably within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. With the above direction, the writ petition is accordingly disposed of. No costs. N.V.RAMANA,J DT.15.6.2009 msv