IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.9142 of 2004 Between: 1 Challa Ramachander, S/o. Late Lingaiah, R/o. 10-1-573/1, TIT Quarters, East Marredpally, Secunderabad-26. 2 Challa Balakrishna, (died) per LRs S/o. Late Lingaiah, R/o. 10-1-573/1, TIT Quarters, East Marredpally, Secunderabad-26. 3 Challa Lakshmi W/o. late Balakrishna R/o. 10-1-573/1, TIT Quarters, East Marredpally, Secunderabad-26. 4 Challa Arjun Kumar S/o. late Balakrishna R/o. 10-1-573/1, TIT Quarters, East Marredpally, Secunderabad-26. Petitioners 3&4 brought on record as LRs of deceased 2nd petitioner as per C.O. dt. 9-3-2007 in WPMP 4960 of 2007 ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Government of A.P. Rep. by its Addl. Secretary, Housing Board (H.B-II) Department, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. 2 A.P. Housing Board,(gruhakalpa), M.G. Road, Rep. by its vice Chairman & Housing Commissioner, A.P. HOusing Board, Hyderabad. 3 The A.P. Housing Board,. Rep. by its Secretary, Gruhakalpa, M.G. Road, Hyderabad. .....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 Writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the letter issued by the 1st respondent vide No. 6249/HB-II (1/2003-1) dt. 9-01-2004 in directing the 2nd respondent to conduct the public auction of the petitioner's house bearing Nos.10-1-573/1 and 10-1-573/2 respectively covered in an extent of 107.05 sq.yards and 88.77 sq.yards, TIT Quarters, East Marredpalli, Secunderabad is arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional violation of Article 14, 19 and 21 of Constitution of India and contrary to the provisions of A.P. Housing Board Act of 1956 and rules made thereunder and direct the respondent to sell the land in occupation of the petitioners at the rate of Rs. 2000/- per sq. yard Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.G.KRISHNA MURTHY Counsel for the Respondent No.: MS.G.SUDHA The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.9142 of 2004 ORDER: The father of petitioner Nos.1 and 2, late Lingaiah, was lessee of vacant land in an extent of 25 square yards adjacent to House No.361 TIT (Town Improvement Trust) at West Marredpally, Secunderabad. The land was leased out by the Andhra Pradesh Housing Board (APHB). The lessee constructed premises No.10-1-573 and was living with his family. He was eking out livelihood by washing clothes. After Lingaiah’s demise, petitioners succeeded to the lease. First petitioner occupied APHB land to an extent of 107.05 square yards adjacent to the leased land. Second petitioner also occupied APHB land to an extent of 88.77 square yards. Both of them got separate municipal numbers, being 10-1-573/1 and 10-1-573/2. Statedly, they have been paying taxes to Municipal Corporation and encroachment fees to APHB. In 1994 Government issued G.O.Ms.No.816, dated 09.08.1994, for conversion of leasehold lands into freehold in East Marredpally, Secunderabad, on payment of market value. Petitioners made representation to the Government of Andhra Pradesh and APHB. The latter constituted a Committee. In their meeting the Committee decided to allot the land to the petitioners at Rs.2000/- per square yard. This decision was communicated to the Government. The Government vide their letter dated 30.07.2003 rejected the permission and advised APHB to evict the encroachers and put the land to public auction. APHB, however, addressed another communication dated 12.10.2003 requesting Government to reconsider the matter as it is diﬃcult to evict the petitioners from the land before conducting public auction and also on the ground that they agreed to pay land cost at Rs.2000/-. The Government reconsidered the issue and by a communication dated 09.01.2004 rejected permission and advised APHB to conduct public auction. Aggrieved by the same, petitioners ﬁled the instant writ petition seeking a declaration and direction. The writ petition is opposed by APHB. While admitting the petitioners’ case and also admitting about Government’s rejection, and while making reference to the orders of Government in G.O.Ms.No.38, dated 30.05.1997, it is stated that allotment of land by private negotiations would cause loss to Housing Board, and therefore, it should be auctioned. After hearing the learned Counsel for the petitioners and learned Standing Counsel and after giving anxious consideration to the background of the case this Court is not able to countenance the submission that the petitioners have any enforceable right to compel the Government and APHB to allot lands to them. Under Rule 29 of the Andhra Pradesh Housing Board Rules, 1959 (the Rules, for brevity), read with Section 45 of the Andhra Pradesh Housing Board Act, 1956, APHB is bound to dispose of the land by way of sale or lease only by public auction and if there is an extraordinary reason for disposing of the land otherwise than by public auction, permission/concurrence of the Government under Rule 29(iv) of the Rules is required. Therefore, there is nothing objectionable in the Government rejecting permission for disposing of the land in favour of petitioners. This Court has directed the learned Government Pleader to produce ﬁle before this Court. A perusal of the ﬁle would show that though the Government rejected permission for sale of land otherwise than by public auction in July 2003, again on a request made by Vice Chairman and Housing Commissioner, APHB, vide his letter dated 12.10.2003, they again reconsidered the matter and applied their mind to facts of the case and rejected permission directing public auction. In such a case, especially, when the decision of the Government is in accordance with the Rules, the complaint of the petitioners is misconceived. This aspect of the matter was considered by this Court in G.Raveendra Babu v The Government of Andhra Pradesh (W.P.No.26653 of 2001, dated 14.10.2003) and K.Vijaya v The Andhra Pradesh Housing Board, Warangal (W.P.No.26217 of 2005, dated 09.12.2005). Dealing with similar matter, this Court in Abdul Irfan Amoodi v Andhra Pradesh Housing Board (W.P.No.28064 of 2005, dated 25.01.2006) while holding that property of the Housing Board should be disposed of in public auction to ensure transparency and better appreciated value for the Housing Board, observed as under. It is now well settled that no public authority can be compelled to sell its land or property to a citizen. It is also well settled that whenever public property is to be disposed of, maximum public interest can be sub-served by putting the property to public auction to ensure transparency in the transaction. Any method of disposal of public property, otherwise than by public auction, would be arbitrary. Indeed, as per the provisions of the APHB Act, it has to dispose of the property only by public auction. Therefore, this Court is not inclined to grant any mandamus in favour of the petitioner compelling the APHB to sell the land. Secondly, APHB has already initiated steps for eviction of the petitioner from the land and if at this stage a direction is issued, the same would bar the exercise of jurisdiction by the competent authority, who is seized of the petition for eviction ﬁled by the APHB. It is always open to the petitioner to raise his defence before the competent authority as and when he receives notice. In this writ petition, no relief can be granted as prayed for. The above decision was conﬁrmed by the Division Bench i n Abdul Irfan Amoodi v Andhra Pradesh Housing Board (W.A.No.884 of 2006, dated 23.08.2006). In view of the above precedents, the writ petition is misconceived, and the same is liable to be dismissed. The Writ Petition is, therefore, dismissed. No costs. ____________ (V.V.S.RAO, J) 24.09.2008 vs To 1 The Addl.Secretary, Housing Board(H.B-II) Department, Government of A.P. Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. 2 The vice Chairman & Housing Commissioner,A.P. Housing Board,(gruhakalpa), M.G. Road, A.P. HOusing Board, Hyderabad. 3 The Secretary, A.P. Housing Board, Gruhakalpa, M.G. Road, Hyderabad. 3 2CCs to 4 2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{SPJS}