IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE NINTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 5254 of 2008 Between: 1 Yalangi Balachandrudu S/o.Venkata Rao R/o.Penukullapadu H/o.Digamarru Kothapeta G.P.W.G Dist 2 Cherugondi Padma W/o.Late Chandrapal, R/o.Gorintada Palakol(M) W.G Dist ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 The Govt of A.P, by its Secretary Revenue Department,Secretariat Hyd 2 The Dist Collector W.G Dist Eluru 3 The Revenue Divisional Officer Narsapur W.G Dist 4 The Tahsildar Palakol Mandal Palakol W.E Dist 5 Sri Mandela Emberu Manar Swamy alias Nani S/o.Udayavarlu R/o.Gorintada Palakol(M) W.G Dist 6 Sri Yella Lakshmi Narayana S/o.Satyanarayana R/o.Agarrru Palakol(M) W.G Dist 7 Sri Bonthu Satyanarayana S/o.Munsalayya R/o.Gorintada Palakol(M) W.G Dist 8 Sri Thota Venkata Subba Rao S/o.Surayya, R/o.Allu Venkata Satyanarayana Colony Palakol(M) W.G Dist 9 Sri Bonthu Venkateswarlu S/o.Musalayya R/o.Gubalagunta H/o.Digamarru Kothapeta G.P Palakol(M) W.G Dist 10 Smt.Sarika Kalavati W/o.Ramachandra Rao rR/o.Kummaripeta Near Locks Palakol W.G Dist 11 Sri Chodisetti Venkata Sirama Gupta S/o.Veerabhadra Rao R/o.Bhimavaram Road Near Railway Gate Palakol W.G Dist 12 Sri Kanaparthi Sreenu alias Rounder S/o.Surayya, R/o.Behind House of Sri C.V.Raju Pulapalli(V) Palakol,Palakol (M) W.G Dist 13 Sri Mandela Babu Rajendra Prasad S/o.Lakshmana Swamy, R/o.Near F.C.I Godown Laljapatiroy Peta Palakol W.G Dist 14 The Additional Divisional Engineer E.P.D.C.L A.P.Transco Palakol W.G Dist .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 to issue a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ,order or direction declaring the action of the respondents 1 to 4 herein in not taking any action for removal of Prawn tanks of the respondents 5to 13 situated in R.S No.2 of Digamarru(V) Palakol(M) W.G Dist inspite of the Legal Notice dt.31-12-2007 got issued by the petitioners herein as illegal arbitrary unreasonable and violative of Articles 14,21 and 300-A of the Constitution of India and opposed to the Judgments reported in AIR 2002 A.P.and AIR 1997 SC 811 and consequenlty direct the respondents 1to 4 herein to remove the Prawn Tanks of the Respondents 5 to 13 situated in R.S No.2 of Digamarru(V) Palakol(M) W.G Dist and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.A.V.SESHA SAI Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO.5254 OF 2008 ORAL ORDER: Questioning the inaction of respondent Nos.1 to 4 herein in taking steps for removal of prawn tanks of respondents 5 to 13 notwithstanding the legal notice dated 31.12.2007 got issued by the petitioners in regard thereto, they filed the present writ petition. The case of the petitioners is that they are the owners of the agricultural land admeasuring Ac.0.44 cents and Ac.1.17 cents respectively in R.S.No.2 of Digamarru village, Palakol Mandal, West Godavari District, having purchased the same under two different registered sale deeds dated 20.07.2000 and 18.05.1997 and since then they are in possession and enjoyment of the lands in question and they belong to scheduled caste and are eking out their livelihood only by cultivating the lands in question by raising paddy crop and are paying the land revenue to the Government. It is their further case that the lands of the unofficial respondent Nos.5 to 13 are also situated in the same survey number and they have converted their agricultural lands into prawn tanks without the necessary permission from the authorities concerned by illegally digging bore wells in their lands and due to the same, the salt water percolated into the lands in question and as a corollary the lands in question have become saline and thereby the petitioners are not able to raise paddy crop in the lands in question which deprived of their livelihood. The petitioners, have, therefore made umpteen number of requests to the unofficial respondents herein to remove the prawn tanks but no action was taken. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioners have got a legal notice dated 31.12.2007 issued to the official and unofficial respondents herein in that regard. The main grievance of the petitioners in this writ petition is that despite the legal notice issued by them, respondent No.1 to 4 did not take any action and even respondent No.14 failed to take action in disconnecting power supply to the bore wells of the unofficial respondent Nos.5 to 13 who too failed to remove the prawn tanks from their lands. Hence, the petitioners filed the present writ petition. Except respondent Nos.9, 10, 12 and 13, all other respondents are served with notices. Respondent No.11 though served did not appear either in person or through counsel. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue for respondent Nos.1 to 4, the learned counsel appearing for the respondent Nos.5 to 8 and the learned standing counsel for respondent No.14. No counter affidavit is filed on behalf of respondent Nos.1 to 4. The learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue, however on instructions, submitted across the bar that the unofficial respondent Nos.5 to 13 were not granted any permission for converting their lands into prawn tanks. In the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the unofficial respondent Nos.5 to 8, it is nowhere averred that they have obtained the necessary permission from the authorities concerned for converting their lands into prawn tanks, and on the other hand it is averred that the lands in question are not by the side of the lands of the unofficial respondent Nos.5 to 8 and that they have been carrying on aqua cultural operations in the said tanks from the year 1998 by paying taxes for tanks to the respondent authorities and that the said tanks are not causing any inconvenience to anybody as the same are bounded by road, railway track and small canal on three sides and the remaining boundary is the land held by one M.Kanakabhavani. Since respondent Nos.5 to 8 in their counter affidavit have disputed that the land of the petitioners is not adjacent to their land, and considering the fact that the official respondent Nos.9, 10,12 and 13 are not served with notices, all the counsel agreed for disposal of the writ petition itself at the stage of admission with the following directions: The third respondent, namely, Tahsildar, Palakol Mandal, Palakol, West Godavari District, is directed to issue notices to all the unofficial respondents including respondent Nos.5 to 8 who filed their counter affidavit in the writ petition, conduct enquiry and pass appropriate orders on the legal notice dated 31.12.2007 got issued by the petitioners expeditiously. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed. No costs. ______________ N.V.RAMANA, J. Date: 09.07.2008 VGSR