IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE ELEVENTH DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION No : 7999 of 2008 Between: Smt.Chinthala Swarajyam W/o.late Appa Rao R/o.9-1-7, Lenin Nagar, Bandarugudem Village, Manuguru Mandal, Khammam District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Special Deputy Collector (Tribal Welfare) Bhadrachalam, Khammam District. 2 The Additional Agent to Government & Project Officer, I.T.D.A. Bhadrachalam, Khammam District. 3 The Tahsildar, Manuguru, Khammam 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 or direction preferably writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 2nd respondent in not passing appropriate orders either on the stay petition or on the appeal itself filed on 10.3.2008 against the order of eviction dt. 28.9.2007 in L.T.R. Case No.324/2007/MGR passed by the 1st respondent as illegal, arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice and consequently direct the 1st respondent to consider and dispose of the stay petition or the appel itself within a reasonable time and further direct the respondents 1 to 3 or their subordinate staff not to dispossess petitioner from possession and enjoyment of the land to an extent of Acs. 0-03 gts in Sy.No. 212 situated at Manuguru Village, Manuguru Mandal of Khammam District pending disposal of the appeal on the file of the 2nd respondent and pass any other order this Hon'ble Court may deem fit in the interest of justice. Counsel for the Petitioner : Sri Kowturu Vinaya Kumar Counsel for the Respondents : GP for Social Welfa re The Court made the following O R D E R: Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Social Welfare. The Special Deputy Collector, Bhadrachalam passed orders in his proceedings in Case No.324/2007/MGR against the writ petitioner herein on 28.09.2007 ordering her ejectment from out of the land of an extent of Ac.0.03 guntas in Survey No. 212 of Manuguru Village and Mandal of Khammam District. It is not in dispute that against this order of the Special Deputy Collector, an appeal is provided to the Additional Agent to the Government, Bhadrachalam, Khammam District under Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation Act, 1959. The writ petitioner has asserted that such an appeal had been preferred on 10.03.2008 and along with the appeal, an interlocutory application was also moved seeking stay of the operation of the orders of the Special Deputy Collector dated 28.09.2007, but the 2nd respondent did not choose to pass orders either in the stay petition or in the main appeal. Therefore, the present writ petition has been instituted. Once an appeal is preferred to the 2nd respondent, it is only expected that it will be attended to at the earliest convenient time. If the appeal itself cannot be decided, the interlocutory application moved by the parties seeking urgent interim orders could be attended to in the meantime. In these set of circumstances, I consider it appropriate to direct the 2nd respondent to entertain, hear and decide the appeal preferred against the orders of the Special Deputy Collector, Bhadrachalam dated 28.09.2007 within three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Till such time, the status quo existing as of now with regard to possession be maintained. It is, however, open to the 2nd respondent to independently consider the interlocutory application moved by the writ petitioner herein and decide the same even before it decides the appeal preferred to it. With this, the writ petition stands disposed of, but however, without costs. (NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J) 11th April 2008 Note: Issue CC in one week. (bo) ksld