IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION NO : 9537 of 2003 Between: 1 N. Ram Manohar Rao S/o Nagarjuna Shop. No. 1-6-115/1, Jawahar Road, Jagtial, Karimnagar District. 2 Rachakonda Janardhan Shop No. 1/4/243, 245, Jawahar Road, Jagtial, Karimnagar District. 3 Sangam Rajesham Shop No. 2-2-31, Jawahar Road, Jagtial, Karimnagar District. 4 Neeli Laxmi W/o Ram Kishan Shop No. 2-2-3, Jawahar Road, Jagtial, Karimnagar District. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 The Chief Engineer, National Highway & Surface Transport, Opp: Medinova, Somajiguda, Hyderabad. 2 The District Collector, Karimnagar, Karimnagar District. 3 The Superintendent Engineer, Roads & Buildings, Public Works Department, Karimnagar, Karimnagar District. 4 Jagtial Municipality, Rep. by its Commissioner, Office of Municipality, Jagtial, Karimnagar District. .....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, declaring the action of the respondents in seeking to widen the existing, Jawahar Road in Jagtial, Karimnagar District i.e., from New Bus Stand, to House of Ashalu, Former Chairman, Municipality, Jagtial to 100' wide including construction of 305 metres wide divider with Centre Lighting System pursuant to the Tender Notiﬁcation No. MCJ/ME/203-04/1 dt. 1-4-2003 by demolishing the houses/property of the petitioner without issues to the petitioner as acquiring the same or or initiating acquisition proceedings under the Land Acquisition Act is arbitrary, illegal and violative of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India and direct the respondents to forbear from widening the road or demolishing the premises of the petitioners without acquiring the same. Counsel for the Petitioners: MR.K.K.MAHENDER REDDY&PERI PRABHAKAR Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following Order: THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.9537 of 2003 ORDER: The petitioners are allegedly owners of shops situated at Jawahar Road, Jagtial. Jagtial Municipality passed a resolution dated 28.09.2002 for widening the existing road to 100 feet wide road. Apprehending that in the process of road widening, without due process the Municipality may demolish their shops, the petitioners ﬁled instant writ petition and obtained interim order. The matter is appearing in interlocutory list, but it is taken up for ﬁnal hearing with the consent of both the parties. Petitioners’ counsel and respondents’ counsel are heard. It is brought to the notice of this Court by respondents’ counsel that a fresh tender notice has to be issued. Whether that is required or not, in case the petitioners shops are also coming with the road widening area, the Municipality shall have to issue notice and comply with the principles of natural justice. I n P.Lakshmana Rao v. Executive Oﬃcer [1], a Division Bench of this Court issued directions to be followed by the Municipal authorities, Panchayat authorities and Revenue authorities for acquiring the land for public purpose. Having regard to the decision of the Division Bench, I have considered similar issue in a number of writ petitions and culled out various principles of law to be followed by the Government while acquiring/utilizing the private land for road widening. The principles were reiterated by my learned brother, Sri Justice B.Sudershan Reddy in M.Madhavi Latha v. Rajendranagar Municipality[2]. The principles laid down by the Division Bench are as follows. (1) Where a property is required for public purpose viz., widening of roads or for any other purpose, the authorities straightaway cannot take law into their hands and jump into the premises, dispossess or evict the occupants or demolish the property. (2) If the authorities concerned want to take action for eviction/dispossession of the occupants or demolition, they shall issue 60 days’ prior notice notifying as to the nature of the property, the property to whom it belongs and the proposed action calling for explanation/objections, if any, from the occupants. On receipt of such objections, if there is any objection as to the ownership of the property, the authorities should determine the extent of encroachment or unauthorised occupation and also determine whether the property in question belongs to Government/any other local self Government or authority or the occupants and pass appropriate orders within three months from the date of receipt of the objections, after aﬀording an opportunity of being heard to the occupants. (3) In case where demolition of private property has already been made, the authorities shall determine the damages on the basis of the assessment to be made by the Engineer of the Roads and Buildings Department and disburse the amount of damages quantified forthwith. (4) If the demolition is in respect of local bodies’ Government property, the question of damages does not arise. In such an event, the occupant shall be entitled to remove the material used for the construction. (5) In case of demolition of private property, the authorities concerned shall determine the loss caused to the occupants on the basis of the assessment to be made by the Engineer of R&B Department and on such assessment of damages, the concerned authorities shall take appropriate steps to disburse the amount quantified forthwith. (6) If there is any claim for grant/assessment of the property, the concerned authorities shall consider the same in accordance with law taking into consideration the eligibility and the entitlement of occupants, after making enquiry and till such claim is decided, there shall be status quo obtaining as on today regarding the structures. The writ petition is disposed of as above directing maintenance of status quo as on today. No costs. _____________ (V.V.S.RAO, J) 01st September, 2008 GHN To 1 The Chief Engineer, National Highway & Surface Transport, Opp: Medinova, Somajiguda, Hyderabad. 2 The District Collector, Karimnagar, Karimnagar District. 3 The Superintendent Engineer, Roads & Buildings, Public Works Department, Karimnagar, Karimnagar District. 4 Jagtial Municipality, Rep. by its Commissioner, Office of Municipality, Jagtial, Karimnagar District. 5 2CCs to GP for Revenue 6 2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{SRAVAN} [1] 2000(5) ALT 246 (DB) [2] 2001(2) ALT 482