IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 20325 of 2008 Between: 1. Kalasam Pullaiah S/o.Thippaiah R/o.Tekulapalem Village, H/o. Vempalli, Madanapalli Mandal, Chittoor District. 2. Yellutla Ramappa S/o.Papaiah R/o.Tekulapalem Village, H/o. Vempalli, Madanapalli Mandal, Chittoor District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Madanapalli, Chittoor District. 2 The Tahsildar, Madanapalli Revenue Mandal, Chittoor District. 3 The District Manager A.P. (Housing) Corporation, 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 may be pleased to issue a writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 1st respondent in not granting interim stay of the order of the 2nd respondent made in Roc.No.Dt/1470/2007 dated 22.08.2008 communicated to the petitioner by registered post on 04.09.2008 pending Appeal No.B1/5216/2008 is arbitrary and violative of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India and consequently stay the operation of the order of the 2nd respondent in Roc.No.Dt/1470/2007 dated 22.08.2008 in the interest of justice and pass such other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.R.RADHA KRISHNA REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V.RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO.20325 of 2008 ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled seeking a writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 1st respondent-Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Madanapalli, Chittoor District, in not passing any orders on the stay petition ﬁled along with Appeal No. B1/5216/2008, preferred by the petitioners challenging the order, dated 22.08.2008, passed by the 2nd respondent- Tahsildar, Madanapalli Revenue Mandal, Chittoor District, in Roc.No.Dt/1470/2007, as illegal and arbitrary. 2. The petitioners claim to be the absolute owners and possessors of the land to an extent of Ac.3.00 cents in S.No.1310, Ac.1.00 cents in S.No.1316 and Ac.0.46 cents in S.No.1317 situated at Vempalli village, Madanapalli Mandal, Chittor District, eversince the date of their purchase from the original owner Garla Venkatramaiah, under Registered Sale Deed, dated 08.05.1975, that their names were also mutated in Records of Rights in the year 1993 and they were granted pattadar pass books and title deeds, after conducting due enquiry. It is their further case that earlier, when the respondents tried to dispossess them from the lands in question, they ﬁled W.P.No.10948 of 1998, the same was disposed of by this Court on 05.03.2007 directing the respondents not to dispossess the petitioners without following the due process of law. Purporting to act on the said order, the 2nd respondent-Tahsildar, Madanapalli Revenue Mandal, Chittoor District, issued show cause notice, dated 07.05.2008, calling upon the petitioners to show cause why orders granting homestead in favour of the applicants for house site pattas, in respect of the subject lands, should not be granted under the A.P.Occupants of Homesteads (Conferment of Ownership) Act, 1976 (for short ‘the Act’). Questioning the same, the petitioners preferred W.P.No.10764 of 2008 before this Court, which was disposed of on 14.05.2008 permitting the petitioners to ﬁle explanations to the show cause notice issued on them and it was further directed that if they were able to show by producing appropriate material that the land in question is a private land, the 2nd respondent shall consider the same and drop further proceedings, and till passing of such orders, the petitioners shall not be dispossessed. Following the said order, the petitioners submitted their explanation, dated 15.05.2008, to the said notice, along with relevant documents, and the 2nd respondent passed orders on 22.08.2008 holding that the certiﬁcate of ownership already issued by the then M.R.O. on 13.12.1995 to the landless agriculturists of Mudivaripalli village, in respect of the subject lands, is perfectly valid and legally tenable in all aspects and, accordingly, set aside the plea of the petitioners, in the interests of community at large, and also requested the District Manager (Housing) to take action for construction of pucca houses to the beneﬁciaries in respect of the subject land immediately. Challenging the same, the petitioners preferred an appeal in Appeal No.B1/5216/2008, under Section 8 of the Act 21 of 1976, before the 1st respondent-Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Madanapalli, Chittoor District, along with a petition seeking stay of the order of the 2nd respondent. The grievance of the petitioners is that though they preferred the appeal on 10.09.2008, yet no orders are passed either on the stay petition or in the appeal. 3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners as well as the learned Government Pleader for Revenue, and at their request, the matter is taken up for hearing at the admission stage. 4. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, since the appeal preferred by the petitioners is pending consideration before the appellate authority and so far no orders are passed even on the stay petition, without going into the merits of the matter, I deem it appropriate to direct the 1st respondent to consider and dispose of the appeal preferred by the petitioners against the orders of the 2nd respondent, in accordance with law, expeditiously. Till such time, status quo obtaining as on today, with regard to possession of the subject lands, shall be maintained. 5. The writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of. No costs. ______________ N.V.RAMANA,J 18.09.2008 v v