IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWELFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO:2670 of 2000 Between: 1 Sudarsanam Venkatacharyulu, S/o Late Satyanaryanacharyulu, Sri Lakshminarayana Swamy Varu Temple, Kunduru Village, K.Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 2 Sudarsanam Bhaskara Muthy, S/o Late Seshacharyulu, Sri Lakshminarayana Swamy Varu Temple, Kunduru Village, K.Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 3 Peddinti Ramanujacharyulu, S/o Late Tirumalacharyulu, Sri Lakshminarayana Swamy Varu Temple, Kunduru Village, K.Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 Commissioner, Endowments Department, Tilak Road, Hyderabad. 2 Sri Lakshminaryana Swamy Varu Temple, Rep by its Executive Officer, Kundukur Village, K.Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 3 Sub-Colleter, East Godavari District. 4 Mandal Revenue Officer, K.Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 5 Adimullm Satyanaryana, S/o A.Bapanaiah, Kandur Village, K.Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavri District. R5 is impleaded as per court order dt 29/12/2000 WPMP 26528/2000 .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.A.GOPALA KRISHNAMACHARYULU Counsel for Respondent No.1:AGP FOR ENDOWMENTS Counsel for Respondent No.2: MR. V.T.M.PRASAD Counsel for Respondent Nos.3 & 4: AGP FOR LAND ACQUISTIION Counsel for Respondent No.5: MR. O.MANOHAR REDDY The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of mandamus to set aside endorsement, dated 09.02.2000 by which respondent No.3 rejected the petitioners’ objections. Heard Sri A.Gopala Krishnamacharyulu, learned counsel for the petitioners, the learned Assistant Government Pleaders for Endowments and Land Acquisition representing respondent Nos.1, 3 & 4 respectively, Sri V.T.M.Prasad, learned counsel representing respondent No.2 and Sri O.Manohar Reddy, learned counsel representing respondent No.5 and perused the record. The land acquisition proceedings, whereby the land admeasuring Acs.3.56 cents, which was claimed to be allotted to the petitioners for rendering Archakatvam, are subject matter of several rounds of litigation. In pursuance of order, dated 28.10.1999 passed in Writ Petition No.11574 of 1999, respondent No.3 purported to have considered the objections ﬁled by the petitioners to the proposed acquisition and issued the impugned endorsement, whereby he rejected the said objections. Under Section 5A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act’), on his consideration of the objections, the Collector shall send his report to the appropriate Government, which in turn, shall take a decision on the said objections. It is admitted, at the hearing, that by G.O.Ms.No.1378, dated 15.10.1975, the Andhra Pradesh State Government delegated the power vested in it under Section 5A(2) of the Act by invoking the provisions of Section 3A of the Act to the respective District Collectors of the Districts to dispose of the objections in connection with the land acquisition cases involving provision of house-sites. Therefore, it is only the District Collectors, who are entitled to dispose of the objections. As respondent No.3 considered and rejected the petitioners’ objections, the impugned endorsement is contrary to the above-mentioned provisions and consequently, without jurisdiction. The writ petition is, therefore, allowed without going into the merits of the claims of the petitioners on this short ground. The District Collector, East Godavari is given liberty to consider the objections of the petitioners along with a report to be submitted by respondent No.3 and pass appropriate orders on merits. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 12th NOVEMBER, 2008. kvni