IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY EIGHTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 16242 of 2008 Between: M.Paidi Raju S/o.M.Simhachalam H.No.6-6-434 Gandhi Nagar Secunderabad ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Fac Divisional Officer Cum Authorised Officer Divisional Forest Office Bhadrachalam(North) Division Khammam Dist 2 The Govt.of A.P rep.by its Prl.Secretary Forest Department Secretariat Buildings Hyderabad .....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 an appropriate writ or order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Certiorari call for the records pertaining to conﬁscated vehicle issued proceedings OR No.82/200708/BCMRange/ SD Date 28-6- 2008 by the 1st respondent and declare as illegal unconstitutional violative of Article 14,19(1) (G)&21 of constitution of India and apart from principles of Natural Justice and set aside the same and consequently direct the respondent forthwith release the qualis vehicle Bearing No.AP20U877(which is conﬁscated under A.P Forest Rules) by imposing any condition. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.B.DEVADAS Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR FORESTS The Court made the following : ORDER This writ petition has been ﬁled by M.Paidi Raju assailing the proceedings bearing OR.NO.82/2007-08/BCM Range/SD, dated 28.6.2008 issued by the Divisional Forest Oﬃcer cum Authorised Oﬃcer, Divisional Forest Oﬃce, Bhadrachalam-1 st respondent. Petitioner is the owner of Qualis vehicle bearing No.AP20U8777. The vehicle came to be seized by the oﬃcials of the Divisional Forest Oﬃce, Bhadrachalam on 11.1.2008 on the ground that 8 teak logs worth Rs.34,610/- were being carried in the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle came to be arrested and was released on bail. A show cause notice was issued to the petitioner on 23.1.2008 proposing seizure of the vehicle. The petitioner submitted an explanation to the show cause notice and thereupon, the proceedings impugned in the writ petition came to be issued by the Divisional Forest Oﬃcer cum Authorized Oﬃcer-1 st respondent. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader appearing for the respondents. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that without giving opportunity to the petitioner proceedings impugned in this writ petition have been issued by the 1st respondent and therefore, the proceedings are liable to be set aside. I have gone through the proceedings issued by the 1st respondent. The said proceedings indicate conducting of enquiry. Such is the situation, the petitioner has to challenge the said proceedings by way of an appeal as provided under sub Section 2 (E) of Section 44 of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, which reads as under: “Any person aggrieved by an order passed under sub-section (2-A) or sub- section (2-D) may, within thirty days from the date of communication to him of such order, appeal to the District Court having jurisdiction over the area in which the property has been seized, and the District Court shall after giving an opportunity to the parties to be heard, pass such order as it may think ﬁt and the order of the District Court so passed shall be final.” Since a statutory appeal is available to the petitioner, he is at liberty to raise all the pleas in the appeal. Reserving the said liberty, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs. __________ 28-07-2008 rkk