IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No.11773 of 2009 Between: 1 J. Meenakshamma W/o. Late Kailasa Mudalli R/o.D.No.2-95, Sathrawada Village, Nagari Mandal, Chittoor District. 2 J. Ellappan S/o. Late Kailasa Mudalli R/o.D.No.2-95, Sathrawada Village, Nagari Mandal, Chittoor District. 3 J. Murugappan S/o. Late Kailasa Mudalli R/o.D.No.2-95, Sathrawada Village, Nagari Mandal, Chittoor District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The State of Andhra Pradesh, rep. by its Secretary Revenue (Land Acquisition), Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The District Collector, Chittoor District, Chittoor. 3 The Land Acquisition Officer cum Revenue Divisional Officer, Chittoor, 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 will be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction especially one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in neither passing the award nor paying the compensation to the lands acquired of an extents of Ac.1-01 cent in S.NO.97/1 and Ac.0-61 cents in S.No.97/4 of Sathrawada Village, Nagari Mandal, Chittoor District belong to us is illegal, arbitrary, violation of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India and provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and consequently direct the respondents to pass award and pay the compensation immediately and pass Counsel for the Petitioners: MR.VL.N.G.KMURTHY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed seeking the following relief: “to issue a writ, order or direction, especially one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in neither passing the award nor paying the compensation to the lands acquired of extents of Ac.1-01 cent in S.No.97/1 and Ac.0-61 cents in S.No.97/4 of Sathrawada Village, Nagari Mandal, Chittoor District belong to us is illegal, arbitrary, violation of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India and provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and consequently direct the respondents to pass award and pay the compensation immediately” It is the case of the petitioners that they are the owners of the land admeasuring Ac.1-01 cent and Ac.0-61 cents in S.Nos.97/1 and 97/4 respectively of Sathrawada Village, Nagari Mandal, Chittoor District. The said property is their ancestral property. The Revenue Department also issued title deed to them and they are paying taxes to the Government regularly. While so, the District Collector, Chittoor District-second respondent herein issued a Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which was published in the District Gazette on 05.01.2008, to acquire an extent of Acs.30.48 cents of land for construction of 100 Mcft capacity storage tank. Though notice under Form-3 was issued to them calling for objections, and possession of the land was also taken by the Government and submerged into the tank, no award has been passed by respondents so far. The grievance of the petitioners is that though the legal notice dated 17.04.2009 got issued by them requesting the respondents to pay the compensation to the lands acquired, was received by the respondents, the respondents neither passed the award nor paid the compensation so far. Today, when the matter is taken up, the learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition has produced the instructions sent by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Chittoor-third respondent herein, which reads as under: “An extent of 1.01 Acres in Sy.No.97/1A and 0.61 Acres in Sy.No.97/2B of Satrawada Village pertaining to the writ petitioners were acquired along with other lands for construction of 100 Mc ft capacity storage tank in Satrawada Village. Details Draft Notification U/s 4(1) Draft Declaration U/s 6 1. Approval of the Collector 5/1/2008 14/4/2008 2. Gazette Publication 5/CTR/2008, dt.5/1/2008 139/CTR/2008, dt:15/4/2008 3. Newspapers Vartha dt.18/1/2008 Prajasakthi dt:18/1/2008 Andhraprabha dt:17/4/2008 Surya dt:17/4/2008 4. Locality 20/1/2008 20/4/2008 5. 5A Enquiry Conducted on 29/2/2008. All the awardees have attended 6 . Notice in Form –7 U/s 9(3) & 10 Date: 11/6/2008 7. Form – 6 U/s 9 & 10 Rdo’s F/25/09/2008, Dt:30/5/2008 8. Preliminary Valuation Rate per Acre Rs:1,10,000/- + 30% Solatium Approved by the Joint Collector ref G3/5/12/2008, Dt: 24/6/2008 9. Award Award No.8/2008-2009 Award Proceedings No.G3/512/2008, Dt:24/8/2008 10. Compensation Awarded to the Writ Petitioners Rs.2,83,500/- In view of the above, it cannot be said that the respondents have not passed the award. However, it is stated that the said amount could not be paid to the petitioners due to non-availability of funds and that though the respondents have addressed a letter to the Pay and Account Officer, Padmavathipuram, Tirupathi to release an amount of Rs.4,58,500/-, which includes the compensation of Rs.2,83,500/- payable to the petitioners, the said amount has not been received so far. The learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition submits that since the award has already been passed determining the compensation in respect of the acquired land of the petitioners, th e respondents may be directed to pay the said compensation amount to the petitioners, for which course of action, the learned counsel for the petitioners also agreed. Since the award has already been passed determining the compensation payable to the petitioners, the writ petition is disposed of directing the respondents to pay the compensation amount to the petitioners, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. There shall be no order as to costs. N.V. RAMANA, J Date: 17.07.2009 va