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 Nos : 6262 and 6274 of 2008 WRIT PETITION No: 6262 of 2008 Between: M.K.Viswanatham S/o.Nageswara Rao R/o.Door No.1-4-104/1, Ward No.7 K.N.Road,Tadepalligudem, West Godavari District ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Government of Andhra Pradesh, rep.by its Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration Department secretariat,Hyderabad 2 Tadepalligudem Municipality, rep.by its Commissioner Tadepalligudem, West Godavari 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 will be pleased to issue a writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in encroaching upon the petitioner house bearing Door No.1-47-104/1 situated at K.N.Road, Kadakatla village within Tadepalligudem Municipal Limits, West Godavari District by demolishing a portion 1 1/2 meters width on the eastern side of the said house as illegal, arbitrary,violative of principles of natural justice and also violative of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents not to interfere with the petitioner peaceful possession and enjoyment over the said house. Counsel for the Petitioner : Sri P. Ramabhoopal Reddy Counsel for Respondent No.2 : Sri S. Nageswar Reddy WRIT PETITION No : 6274 of 2008 Between: Smt P.Venkata Lakshmi W/o.Polisetty Subba Rao R/o.Door No.1-47-104/2 Ward No.7 K.N.Road Tadepalligudem W.G Dist ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Govt of A.P rep.by its principal Secretary Municipal Administration Department Secretariat,Hyd 2 Tadepalligudem Municipality rep.by its Commissioner Tadepalligudem W.G Dist .....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 more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in encroaching upon the petitioner's house bearing No,.1-47-104/2 situated at K.N.Road Kadakatla(V) within Tadepalligudam Municipal Limits W.G Dist by demolishing a portion 1metter width on the eastern side of the said house as illegal arbitrary violative of principles of natural justice adn also violative of Article 300-A of the Constitution of Petitioner's peaceful possession and enjoyment over the said house. Counsel for the Petitioner : Sri P. Ramabhoopal Reddy Counsel for Respondent No.2 : Sri S. Nageswar Reddy The Court made the following COMMON ORDER: In both these[aphc1] cases, the grievance of the petitioners is that the respondent-Municipality has been seeking to acquire their houses[aphc2] for the purpose of laying or widening the road existing, without following due process of law and that the respondent- Municipality has been offering meager amounts as compensation for the houses and sought to be taken possession of by them. It is further asserted that the value offered by the Municipality is, in fact, less than the value prevailing for the houses 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-Municipality and deliver possession of the houses. It is needless to observe that the Municipality 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 Section 172 read with 174 of the Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act and without adopting such a procedure, they 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 ksld ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{BMR} [aphc1] [aphc2]