IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWELFTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO : 12080 of 2008 Between: 1 Vemareddy Venkata Sivaram Prasad Reddy S/o Venku Reddy R/o Papireddypalem Village Totapalli Gudur Mandal, Nellore District. 2 Smt. Vemareddy Saraswatamma W/o Late Venkata Subba Reddy R/o Papireddypalem Village Totapalli Gudur Mandal, Nellore District. 3 Smt. V.A. Varalakshmi W/o late V. a. Ramakrishna Reddy R/o Flat No. 218 My Home Madhubhan Apartments, Srinagar colony Hyderabad./ 4 Smt. Vemareddy Sri Divya W/o P. Gopichand R/o USA rep by GPA Holder Vemareddy Venkata Sivaram Prasad Reddy S/o Venku Reddy aged 56 Agriculturist Papireddypalem Villge Totapalli Gudur Mandal, Nellore District. 5 Didugu Suresham S/o Rama Rao R/o 12-11-167, brahmanabasti Namalagaundu, Sithaphalmandi Secunderabad 500 061. 6 Ravuru Seshagiri Rao S/o babu Rao R/o D. No. 1-9-295/32/3 Bharati Enclave, Beside Velama Girls Hostel Vidyanagar, Hyderabad 500 044. 7 Smt. Ravuru Kalavathi W/o K. Seshagiri Rao R/o D. No. 1-9-295/32/3 Bharati Enclave, Beside Velama Girls Hostel Vidyanagar, Hyderabad 500 044. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 Government of Andhra Pradesh, repby District Collector, Nellore. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, nellore, 3 The Tahsildar, T.P. Gudur Mandal, Nellore District. 4 The Superintendent of Police, Nellore, Nellore District. 5 The Station House officer, T.P. Gudur Police Station, T.P. Gudur Mandal, Nellore District. .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 respondents 4 and 5 in not implementing the proceedings of the 1st respondent passed in R.C.O. E3/5209/2007 dated 28-10-2007 as illegal and arbitrary and consequently direct the Respondents to provide protection to the petitioners. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.O.MANOHER REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR HOME The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU W.P. No. 12080 of 2008 O R D E R: This writ petition is filed seeking a Mandamus declaring the action of respondents 4 and 5 in not implementing the proceedings of the 1st respondent in R.C.O. E3/5209/07 dated 28.10.2007 as arbitrary and illegal; consequently, to direct the respondents to provide protection to the petitioners. According to the petitioners, they are owners of various extents of land in various Survey Numbers of Totapalli village of T.P. Gudur Mandal, Nellore District. The lands are standing in the name of their grandfather and his name was also entered in the Diglot register maintained by the Revenue Department. The lands are inam lands and after the Inams Abolition Act came into force, an enquiry was conducted and ryotwari patta was granted in the year 1961. Thereafter, the property was partitioned among the petitioners and they have also filed declaration before the Land Reforms Tribunal, as envisaged under the provisions of the A.P. Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1971. The excess land determined under the provisions of the Act has been surrendered to the Government and the retainable extent of the land in the above survey numbers is in possession and enjoyment of the petitioners and their relatives. While that being so, the workers of CPI (M) Party have tried to occupy the land and they have also planted their party flags thereon. Further, they were threatening the petitioners and were raising a dispute that the property belongs to the Government. Under those circumstances, the petitioners filed a representation before the Collector to provide police protection from the high-handed action of the CPI (M) Party workers. The said representation, with regard to the title of the property etc., was enquired into by the 1st respondent and he passed an order dated 28.10.2007 directing the Station House Officer – 5th respondent herein – to take action for removal of the encroachments. Another representation was made on 3.12.2007 requesting the 5th respondent to take appropriate action. Now, the grievance of the petitioners is that in spite of there being a direction from the Collector, respondents 4 and 5 have not taken any action as required under the law, particularly, for giving protection to the properties held by them. Hence, this writ petition. A counter affidavit has been filed by 4th and 5th respondents wherein it is stated that the complaint lodged by the petitioners on 20.11.2007 stating that some CPI Party workers have entered into the lands in S.Nos. 50, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60 and 61 of Thotapalli village and requesting to take necessary action was entered into the G.D. and on the same day i.e. on 20.11.2007 a letter was addressed to the Tahsildar, T.P. Gudur to verify the records pertaining to S.Nos. 50, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60 and 61 of Thotapalli village. The Tahsildar was also requested to verify the passbooks and intimate whether the lands in above survey numbers are inam lands or patta lands. The Tahsildar, T.P. Gudur, in her proceedings RCB 389/07 dated 30.11.2007, replied that the lands were not got surveyed and, therefore, it cannot be specifically stated whether the lands are inam or patta lands. She further clarified that there was no sub-division of survey numbers. Therefore, a letter was addressed on 14.12.2007 to the Tahsildar, T.P. Gudur stating that the C.P.M. Party members were claiming that the lands in S.Nos. 1 to 73 of Thotapalli village are inam lands, that they are encroaching into them, that the petitioners and others are also claiming that they are in possession and enjoyment of the land and there is every likelihood of law and order problem and, therefore, to clarify in that regard. The Tahsildar, in her proceedings RCB 389/07 dated 15.12.2007, gave reply stating that the lands in S.Nos. 1 to 73 are inam lands and that after abolition of the Inam Act, the ryotwari pattas were not granted to anybody and as per diglot, the land in S.Nos. 1 to 73 is deemed to be Inam land. There upon, the Collector and District Magistrate in his proceedings RCO E3/5209/07 dated 28.10.2007 and 13.12.2007 directed the Revenue Divisional Officer and the Tahsildar, T.P. Gudur to verify the C.C. files, Inam Records and re-survey the lands to remove the encroachments from the Government lands. Sofar, neither the R.D.O. nor the Tahsildar has taken any action in this regard. While that being so, on 19.12.2007, the Inspector of Police, Nellore Rural addressed letters to the Tahsildar, T.P. Gudur and the Collector, Nellore to clarify whether the claim of pattadars is genuine or not and if it is genuine, to clarify the immediate action that can be taken. The Tahsildar, T.P. Gudur in her proceedings RCB 389/07 dated 27.12.2007 stated that none of the lands were notified under Section 2(A) to clarify them as AW or Poramboke lands, as the case may be, and that all the lands are under effective cultivation of ryots. She further stated that the Land Reforms Tribunal accepted them as patta lands and the surplus lands were directed to be surrendered to the Government and orders were issued for surrender of the surplus land and that the Government has taken possession of the surplus land surrendered by the declarants and the rest of the lands are under occupation of the ryots. Now the grievance of the petitioners is only that the respondents 4 and 5 are not acting upon the orders passed by the 1st respondent in his Proceedings R.C.O. E3/5209/07 dated 28.10.2007. Whereas, Sri Pattipati Venkateswarlu, appearing for the impleaded party respondents 6 to 75, stated that no report or no record whatsoever, in support of the contention of the petitioners, is available as of now. The lands are not patta lands and the petitioners are not able to place any record in this regard either before the authorities or before this Court. Therefore, it cannot be said that the respondents 6 to 75 are illegally occupying the patta lands. They are not interested in patta lands but they are only interested in Government land, which is lying vacant and uncultivated. Under these circumstances, without expressing any opinion on merits, respondents 1 and 2 are directed to conduct an open enquiry after issuing notice to all the persons who are claiming to be cultivating the lands in S.Nos. 1 to 73 of Thotapally village, T.P. Gudur Mandal, Nellore District, including the petitioners and the unofficial respondents, complete the exercise and pass appropriate orders, as per law, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Respondents 1 to 5 are directed to give protection only to those lands which are found to be private patta lands of any individuals. Till such time, status quo as on today shall be maintained. The writ petition is disposed of accordingly. C.V. RAMULU, J. Date: 02-12-2008. MVB.