IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE NINETEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P.V.SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.4116 of 2001 Between: 1 Nitalla Sree Rama Chandra Murthy S/o Suranna R/o 1-186, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 2 Adabala Adilaxmi W/o Rama Rao R/o 1-187, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 3 Karri Tata Rao S/o Gurraiah Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 4 Narahari Shetty Veera Venkata Satyanarayana, S/o Satyanarayana Murthy, R/o 1-194, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 5 Narahari Shetty Adinarayana S/o Satyanarayana Murthy R/o 1-194, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 6 Mudragadda Suryavathi W/o Kesava Rao R/o 1-203, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 7 Suda Venkateshwar Rao S/o Adaiah R/o 1-205, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 8 Suda Narsimha Rao S/o Sreeramulu R/o 1-206, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 9 Kuracha Satyanarayana S/o Bushnam R/o 1-209, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 10 Ravanam Banuchandra E/o Sadguru Rao R/o 1-210, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 11 Kuracha Veerabhadra Rao S/o Polaiah R/o 1-212, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 12 Kuracha Chitti Venkat Rao S/o Venkataramaiah R/o 1-212/1, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 13 Kuracha Pullaiah S/o Venkataramaiah R/o 1-213, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 14 Akula Veerarajaratnam W/o Venkatrao R/o 1-214, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 15 Vasarani Venkatalakshmi Subbayamma S/o Venkateswarulu R/o 3-124, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 16 Moturi Simhadri Venkata Satyanarayanamurthy S/o Mulaiah R/o 2-87-2, Edarapally, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Land Acquisition Officer-cum-Revenue Divisional Officer Amalapuram Division, Amalapuram, East Godavari District. 2 The District Collector East Godavari District. Kakinada, East 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 may be pleased to issue order or orders, writ or writs, direction or directions, particularly one in the nature of "WRIT OF MANDAMUS" and declare the action of the respondent in trying to take the possession of Residential Houses of the petitioner 1 to 16 bearing House No. 1-186, 1-187, 1- 187/1, 1-194/2, 1-194, 1-203, 1-205, 1-206, 1-209, 1-210, 1- 212, 1-212/1, 1-213, 1-214, 3-214 and 2-87-2 of Edarapally, Indupally Village respectively, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District, without following due procedure of law, as illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles.300(A) of the Constitution of India, and against the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act. Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.K.L.N.SWAMY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following : HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P.V.SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.4116 OF 2001 O R D E R The present writ petition is ﬁled challenging the action of the respondent authorities in trying to take possession of the residential houses of the petitioners 1 to 16 situated in Edarapally and Indupally Villages of Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District, without following the due procedure laid down by law. The aﬃdavit ﬁled in support of the writ petition reﬂects that the petitioners claim to be the owners and possessors of the residential houses detailed in paragraph 2 thereof which are said to be situated in Edarapally and Indupally Villages of Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. The grievance of the petitioners is that without initiating any action under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, ‘the Act’), the respondent authorities resorted to carrying out survey work in the properties belonging to the petitioners between the dates 16.02.2001 and 18.02.2001. The petitioners allege that upon enquiry, they came to know that their properties would be taken for the purpose of laying a by-pass road for the beneﬁt of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission. They approached this Court by way of the present writ petition complaining that the respondent authorities were taking action without following the due procedure laid down by law. The Land Acquisition Oﬃcer-cum-Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, ﬁrst respondent in the writ petition, ﬁled a counter-aﬃdavit on behalf of himself and the second respondent, wherein it is stated that owing to the requirements of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, the Revenue Authorities had undertaken survey work for the purpose of identifying and demarcating the land, which would be required for the purpose of widening the road. It is further stated that the process was still at the investigation stage and had not yet reached the stage of issuance of a notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Act. As per the counter, the writ petition was filed without any cause of action, as the authorities were yet to take a decision in the matter and would thereafter initiate action as per law. By an interim order dated 12.03.2001 passed by this Court in WPMP No.5301 of 2001 in WP No.4116 of 2001, it was directed that the houses of the petitioners shall not be demolished for a period of four weeks. It appears that there was no further extension of this order thereafter. Be that as it may, when this matter came up for hearing earlier, the learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition was asked to obtain instructions as to whether the respondent authorities were interested in acquiring the subject properties belonging to the petitioners. Upon instructions, the learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition stated today that there was no requisition either from the Roads and Buildings Department or from the ONGC with regard to acquisition of the subject lands for formation of a by-pass road. It is stated that no acquisition proceedings were initiated till date. In the light of the submission made by the learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition, it is clear that there was no cause of action for the petitioners to approach this Court initially and at present, there is no threat of any acquisition being initiated. In any event, if the respondent authorities intend to take over the lands of the petitioners for any purpose, they are bound to do so only after following the due procedure laid down by law. The Writ Petition is therefore devoid of merit and is accordingly dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. ----------------------------- P.V.SANJAY KUMAR,J 19th SEPTEMBER, 2008 PGS THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.V.SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.4116 of 2001 19TH SEPTEMBER, 2008