IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) PRESENT: THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF JUNE, TWO THOUSAND EIGHT ONLY WRIT PETITION No.16634 of 2003 Between: Wg.Cmdr.S.V.Prasad. … Petitioner And The District Collector, Rangareddy District, Khairtabad, Hyderabad and two others. … Respondents Counsel for the petitioners: Sri Balaji Medamalli. Counsel for the respondents: AGP for Revenue (Assignments) This Court made the following: ORDER:- This Writ Petition is filed for a Writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in interfering with the possession of the petitioner in respect of Ac.7.20 cents of land comprised in Survey Nos.606/9, 611 and 613 of Yapral (Chennapur) village, Shamirpet Mandal, Ranga Reddy District as illegal, arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice. On a mention made by the learned counsel for the petitioner on 23-6-2008, the Writ Petition is posted for orders. At the hearing, Sri Balaji Medamalli, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the issue raised in this Writ Petition is squarely covered by judgment dated 25-3-2004 of this Court in Writ Petition No.3912 of 1992 and batch. No counter-affidavit has been filed. At the hearing, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue (Assignments), while agreeing that the issue in this Writ Petition is covered by the above mentioned judgment, stated that according to his instructions the petitioner is not in possession of the property and that the same was allotted to Police Housing Corporation. Learned counsel for the petitioner, however, disputed this claim and stated that in the counter- affidavit filed on behalf the respondents in the contempt case filed by the petitioner on 18-6-2008, the Tahsildar, Shamirpet Mandal, who filed the counter- affidavit, has not taken this plea. In the above-mentioned judgment of this Court, while disposing of one set of cases where the Ex- Servicemen, who were allotted the lands and in were possession of the same, gave the following directions: “(i) Wherever the Ex-serviceman has actually in possession of the land and has brought the land under cultivation within a period of three years from the date of allotment to JCLCS, the Mandal Revenue Officer shall consider the case and regularize the possession by issuing D-form patta in favour of Ex-serviceman or his legal heir wherever necessary; (ii) It shall be open to all the Ex-servicemen who are petitioners before this Court to appear before the Mandal Revenue Officer, Shamirpet Mandal on 15-4-2004 with a representation and necessary material with regard to the status as Ex-serviceman, and with regard to possession and other particulars when the Mandal Revenue Officer may fix a date for proper enquiry and complete the enquiry within a period of two months thereafter; (iii) The Mandal Revenue Officer shall submit a detailed report containing case-wise details to the Joint Collector, Ranga Reddy District who shall sanction/issue patta to eligible Ex-servicemen. Till this enquiry is completed, there shall be status quo as on today with regard to possession”. With respect to another set of cases where the claim of the petitioners therein that they were in possession was denied, the following direction was given: “(iv) Insofar as writ petitions in the third group mentioned hereinabove i.e., W.P.Nos.17041 of 2002, 24015 of 2002, 24819 of 2002, 25681 of 2002, 962 of 2003; 2369 of 2003, 13312 of 2003, 14580 of 2003, 18491 of 2003 and 18703 of 2003, the matters are disposed of giving liberty to all the petitioners to seek appropriate relief from the Mandal Revenue Officer for assignment of land. As the allegation that they are in possession of the land is denied, no orders as to possession can be passed in their favour, and the interim orders passed by this Court stand vacated”. In respect of both the categories, the learned Judge made it clear that in no case Ex-Serviceman or any other person shall be allotted more than Ac.5.00 of agricultural dry land or Ac.2.50 of wet land. Following the above-reproduced directions contained in the judgment in the aforementioned batch, this Writ Petition is disposed of. The petitioner shall appear before the Tahsildar, Shamirpet Mandal, before expiry of three weeks from today with a representation containing necessary details. The Tahsildar, Shamirpet, shall fix a date for enquiry and decide as to in which of the two categories the petitioner falls and pass appropriate order as per the directions contained in judgment dated 25-3-2004 as mentioned supra. --------------------------------------- C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY,J 24-6-2008 MNR