THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO CONTEMPT CASE No.1572 of 2010 April 07, 2011 Between: Karampudi Veera Venkata Udayabhaskaracharyulu, S/o.Nagabhushanacharyulu ... Petitioner And Sri Anil Chandra Polita, Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad And others ...Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO CONTEMPT CASE No.1572 of 2010 ORDER: The petitioner filed the writ petition alleging that his land in S.Nos.711 and 713 situated at Baithupally village of Sathupally Mandal in Khammam District was occupied by the Project displaced persons, that the Government failed to initiate proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (the Act) in spite of various reports sent by the Revenue officials in the District and, therefore, he sought a Mandamus to respondents to initiate proceedings under the Act and pay compensation. The Mandal Revenue Officer, Sathupally filed counter affidavit opposing the writ petition. After considering the rival submissions, this Court disposed of the writ petition on 06.11.2009 with the following directions. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of, directing the District Collector, Khammam, to conduct a detailed enquiry keeping in view the intra-departmental correspondence among the offices of Tahsildar, Revenue Divisional Officer, District Collector and CLR. Such enquiry shall be conducted within a period of four months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. During such enquiry, if it is found that petition schedule land or any part thereof has been occupied by the Project displaced persons of Baithupally Irrigation Tank, necessary action shall be taken immediately for acquiring petition schedule land. It is needless to mention that it is always open to respondents to negotiate with petitioner (in the event, he is owner of the land) under the Andhra Pradesh Land Acquisition (Negotiation Committee) Rules, 1992. In case petitioner is not willing to accept the compensation offered by Revenue department, it is open for the Land Acquisition Officer to pass award in accordance with law. Such proceedings shall be initiated and completed within a further period of four months, from the date of completion of the enquiry. There shall be no order as to costs. It is the case of the petitioner, in this contempt case, that even though the time granted by this Court for passing an award expired the respondents did not initiate any action. This Court ordered notice in Form No.I to respondents 3 to 5. The contemnors appeared on 26.11.2010 and sought time. On 10.12.2010, the Government Pleader informed that the District Collector has fixed the schedule for completion of the Land Acquisition proceedings. On that day, this Court recorded the proceedings as follows. The Government Pleader for Revenue General (Telangana Area) files the correspondence between the District Collector, Khammam and the Government. The Collector, according to the Government Pleader, has initiated action and fixed the schedule for completion of process for acquisition of lands at Ramanagaram H/o.Bethupally Village. The same reads as under. District Collector’s letter to Principal Secretary to Govt. Minor Irrigation, A.P. Secretariat, Hyd, providing necessary funds. 04.12.2010 DN u/s.4(1) & DD u/s.6 of LA Act submitted by the RDO, Khammam to the District Collector, Khammam for approval 05.12.2010 Approval of DN u/s.4(1) of LA Act by the District Collector, Khammam 15.12.2010 Approval of DD u/s.6 of LA Act by the District Collector, Khammam, publication of DN/DD 20.12.2010 Publication of DN/DD, issue of notice u/s.9(1) & 10, 9(3) & 10 of LA Act 30.12.2010 P.V. Report 20.01.2011 Completion of Award enquiry 31.01.2011 Approval of Award Form-8 15.02.2011 Passing of Award 20.02.2011 Attention of this Court is also invited to the draft notification dated 09.12.2010 as well as the draft declaration under Section 6 of Land Acquisition Act, 1894 of even date. Therefore, to enable the respondents to pass awards for the Mandamus issued by this Court, the matter is adjourned till 22.02.2011. Today when the matter is called, the Special Counsel attached to the office of the Advocate General has placed before this Court the award vide Rc.No.C1/2252/2002, dated 06.4.2011 whereunder an amount of Rs.33,57,073/- towards land value, additional market value, solatium and interest was awarded in favour of M/s.K.V.V. Udayabhaskaracharyulu (petitioner herein), Karampudi Eswarachary and Smt.Karampudi Ranga Kumari. The Counsel for the petitioner, however, submits that the respondents have taken the land in 1983–84 and passed the award recently. According to him, if the contempt case is disposed of at this stage, there would be delay in payment of compensation awarded. The submission cannot be countenanced. The Mandamus was issued by this Court directing the Land Acquisition Officer to pass award. Now that the award has been passed there is substantial compliance with the order passed by this Court. Therefore as per Section 13 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 the contempt case need not be pursued any further. If there is any cause of action to the petitioner pursuant to the award now passed – a copy of which is handed over to the Counsel for petitioner; it is always open to him to avail appropriate remedy under law. The contempt case is, therefore, dismissed. No costs. _________________ (V.V.S. RAO, J) April 07, 2011 YS