IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION No : 6222 of 2008 Between: 1 Kandregula Simhachalam Naidu S/o.Late Nooka Raju R/o.D.no. 17-90/1 to 12, 71st Ward, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Vizag Main Road, Pendurthi-531 173 2 Kandregula Ramakrishna S/o.Late Nooka Raju R/o.D.o./ 17-93/1 to 10,. 71st Ward, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Vizag Main Road, Pendurthi-531 173 3 Kandregula VIjaya Kumari W/o. K. Srinivasa Rao R/o. D.No. 17-93/11 to 14, 71st Ward, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Vizag Main Road, Pendurthi-531 173 ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Rep. by its Commissioner, Visakhapatnam. 2 The District Collector, Visakhapatnam. .....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 particularly a writ in the nature of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents herein in seeking to demolish the house of 1st petitioner herein in D.No. 17-90/1 to 12, 71st and 2nd petitioner herein in D.No. 17-93/1 to 10, 71st ward and 3rd petitioner herein in D.No. 17-93/11 to 14 , 71st ward situate in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Vizag Main Road,Pendurthi-531 173, for the purpose of widening the road in Pendurthi Village as illegal and unconstitutional and further direct the respondents herein not to demolish the house of 1st petitioner herein D.No. 17-90/1 to 12 , 71st and 2nd petitioner herein in D.No. 17-93/1 to 10, 71st ward and 3rd petitioner herein in D.No. 17-93/11 to 14 , 71st ward situate in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Vizag Main Road,Pendurthi-531 173, without following the procedure laid down under the provisions of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act and Land Acquisition Act and pass Counsel for the Petitioner : Sri K.V. Subramanya Narasu. Counsel for Respondent No.1: Sri N.Ranga Reddy Counsel for respondent No.2 : Government Pleader for Revenue The Court made the following O R D E R : In this[aphc1] case, the grievance of the petitioners is that the respondent-Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation has been seeking to acquire [aphc2]land for the purpose of widening the road existing, without invoking the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and that the respondent-Corporation has been offering meager amounts as compensation for the land sought to be taken possession of by them. It is further asserted that the value offered by the Corporation is, in fact, less than the value prevailing for the land as also the value fixed by the revenue establishment of the State Government and, hence, the petitioners are not interested in agreeing to receive the compensation offered by the respondent-Corporation and deliver possession of the land. It is needless to observe that the Municipal Corporation cannot take possession of the property owned by the citizens without recourse to law. The respondents are, therefore, directed to follow the procedure laid down in the Land Acquisition Act and acquire the land in question and without adopting such a procedure, it should not insist upon the petitioners to part with the possession of the land. With this, the writ petition stands disposed of, but however, without costs. (NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J) 25th March 2008 Note: Issue CC in two days. ksld [aphc1] [aphc2]