IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE P.V.SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO : 9818 of 2001 Between: B.Bojjappa S/o.Solanna R/o.Nesepeta,Kanekal, Anantapur District. ..... PETITIONER AND The Kanekal Grampanchayat, Kanekal, Anantapur District. .....RESPONDENT 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 Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ or direction declaring the action of the respondents in threatening to demolish the conustructions of the building bearing Door No.7/148 situated at Kanekal Village and Mandal, Anantapur District without issuing notice and without following the procedure contemplated under Section 98 of the Panchayatraj Act as illegal arbitrary and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.O.MANOHER REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR PANCHAYAT RAJ & RURAL DEV. The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P.V.SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO.9818 OF 2001 ORAL ORDER: The writ petitioner claims to be the owner of the building bearing Door No.7/148 situated at Kanekal Village and Mandal, Anantapur District. It is his case that he demolished the dilapidated building and applied for grant of permission to the Kanekal Gram Panchayat, Kanekal, the sole respondent herein, under his application in B.A.No.27/2000-01 dated 06.02.2001. It is his further case that he was sanctioned the requisite permission and that he constructed a building in accordance with the approved plan. The grievance of the petitioner is that basing upon the representation made by certain persons who are inimical to him, the respondent-Gram Panchayat was threatening to demolish the building constructed by him on the ground that the same resulted in encroachment to an extent of three feet. It is stated that no notice was issued to the petitioner under Section 98 of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (for brevity, ‘the Act of 1994’). Accordingly, the writ petition was ﬁled seeking a declaration that the proposed action of the respondent- Gram Panchayat in seeking to demolish the petitioner’s construction, being in violation of the procedure contemplated under Section 98 of the Act of 1994, was illegal and arbitrary. By an order dated 16.05.2001 in W.P.M.P. No.12350 of 2001 in W.P.No.9818 of 2001, this Court granted an interim direction restraining the respondent-Gram Panchayat from demolishing the construction made by the petitioner in Door No.7/148 of Kanekal Village and Mandal, Anantapur District. The sole respondent-Gram Panchayat failed to ﬁle its counter affidavit in the matter. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, I am of the view that the interest of justice will be suﬃciently served by directing the respondent-Gram Panchayat not to interfere with the construction made by the petitioner in Door No.7/148 of Kanekal Village and Mandal, Anantapur District, without following the procedure laid down in Section 98 of the Act of 1994. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. _________________________ P.V.SANJAY KUMAR, J. 23rd October, 2008. VGSR