IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWELTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION No : 5339 of 2008 Between: 1 Edara Rajendra Prasad S/o. Sivaramakrishnaiah R/o. Ithanagar, Tenali, Guntur Dist. 2 Edara Ankineedu @ Jyothi S/o. Sivaramakrishnaiah R/o. Ithanagar, Tenali, Guntur Dist. 3 Edara Ram Mohan Rao @ Ratnakar Rao S/o. Sivaramakrishnaiah R/o. Ithanagar, Tenali, Guntur Dist. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Municipal Commissioner, Tenali Municipality, Tenali, Guntur Dist. 2 Assistant Engineer, Town Planning office, Tenali Municipality, Tenali, Guntur Dist. .....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, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in proposing to demolish the petitioner's houses raise in house in site to an extent of Ac. 0.13 cents situated in 11th ward, 7th Block in T.S.No. 668/3 and 668/6 at Tenali, Tenali Municipality, Guntur Dist., without following due process of law as arbitrary, illegal and highhanded and further direct respondents to drop further proceedings in proposed demolition. Counsel for the Petitioners : Smt. M. Vinobha Devi Counsel for the Respondents : Sri S. Nagesh Reddy The Court made the following O R D E R: In [aphc1]this case, the grievance of the petitioners is that the respondent- Municipality has been seeking to acquire [aphc2]land by demolishing the huts raised therein, for the purpose of widening the road existing, without invoking the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and that the respondent-Municipality has been offering meager amounts as compensation for the land sought to be taken possession of by them. It is further asserted that the value offered by the Municipality is, in fact, less than the value prevailing for the land as also the value fixed by the revenue establishment of the State Government and, hence, the petitioners are not interested in agreeing to receive the compensation offered by the respondent-Municipality and deliver possession of the land. It is needless to observe that the Municipality cannot take possession of the property owned by the citizens without recourse to law. The respondents are, therefore, directed to follow the procedure laid down in the Land Acquisition Act and acquire the land in question and without adopting such a procedure, it should not insist upon the petitioners to part with the possession of the land. With this, the writ petition stands disposed of, but however, without costs. (NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J) 12th March 2008 Note: Issue CC today. (bo) ksld : ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{KSRANI} [aphc1] [aphc2]