IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE EIGHTH DAY OF AUGUST, TWO THOUSAND EIGHT ONLY PRESENT: THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.23684 of 2002 Between: P. Krishnam Raju … Petitioner AND The District Collector, West Godavari, Eluru & others. … Respondents Counsel for the petitioner : Sri M. Janardhana Rao for Sri K. Chidambaram Counsel for respondents 1&2: AGP for Land Acquisition This Court made the following: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.23684 of 2002 ORDER:- This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of Mandamus to declare the action of respondent Nos.1 and 2 in not conducting award enquiry and passing award in respect of the land acquired under notiﬁcation dated 04.06.1999 issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, ‘the Act’), as illegal. The petitioner claims to be a tenant of an extent of Ac.5.27 cents in Sy.No.232 of Jinnuru Village, Poduru Mandal, West Godavari District, which admittedly belongs to respondent No.3 temple. The said land was notiﬁed for acquisition under notiﬁcation dated 04.06.1999 issued under Section 4(1) of the Act. Enquiry under Section 5A of the Act was dispensed with and possession was taken. When the respondents have not deposited the compensation amount, the petitioner ﬁled WP.No.14647 of 2000 in this Court, which was disposed of by directing the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer to enquire into the claim of the petitioner and the temple and pass appropriate award. The petitioner claimed that in pursuance of the said order, he sent his claim petition on 05.10.2001 to the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer and thereafter a sum of Rs.6,70,000/- was deposited by the Land Acquisition Oﬃcer in the name of respondent No.3 temple on 08.06.2001. The grievance of the petitioner is that so far no award has been passed disabling him to receive his share of compensation. No counter affidavit is filed. At the hearing, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition stated that the only reason for not passing award is an interim order passed by a Division Bench of this Court in a Public Interest Litigation. In another case, I had occasion to peruse the said order, which only restrained sale of temple lands and there was no prohibition on the acquisition of lands and passing of awards where such acquisitions are initiated. In this view of the matter, there is no justiﬁcation for the respondents for not passing an award despite taking possession of the land long time back. Therefore, the writ petition is allowed. Respondent No.2 is directed to issue notices under Sections 9(3) and 10 of the Act to the petitioner and respondent No.3 and pass appropriate award under Section 11 of the Act, within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. As a sequel to disposal of the writ petition in the manner indicated above, WPMP.No.29726 of 2002 ﬁled by the petitioner for interim relief is disposed of as infructuous. ____________________________ C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Date: 08.08.2008 ES