IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No. 27991 of 2007 Between: 1 Sri Kovvuri Ammi Reddy S/o Veera Reddy R/o D. No. 4-1-42 Vallabhi Street, Cinemma Road, Kothapet market Centre Kakinada-533001. 2 Smt. K. Vijayalakshmi W/o K. Ammi Reddy R/o D. No. 4-1-42 Vallabhi Street, Cinema Road, Kothapeta Markt Centre Kakinada 3 Smt. bala Suryakala W/o Ganesh Female, R/o d. No. 4-1-47/1A Vallabhi Street, Cinema Road, Kakinada-533001. 4 Smt. baki Ramulamma W/o Guruvulu R/o D. No. 4-4-16 vilabhi Street Kakinada-533 001. 5 Smt. Akepati Ramanamma W/o Narayana r/o D. No. 4-1-44/2, Vallabhi Street Kakinada. 6 Smt. Chinthakula Padmavathi W/o Venkata Ramana R/o D. No. 4-1-44/1, Vallabhi Street kakinada-533 001. 7 Smt. Mungalla chinnammai W/o Nagaraju R/o D. No. 45-6-21 Vallabhi Street kakinada-533 001. 8 Smt. Regani Satyavathi W/o Late Krishna R/o D. No. 4-1-44, Vallabhi Street Kakinada-533 001. 9 Smt. Mattaparthi Nookaratnam W/o Arjuna Rao R/o D. No. 4-1-45 Vallabhi Street kakinada 10 Smt. bahaduru Sunanda, W/o Prem Kumar R/o D. No. 5-5-28/1, Vallabhi Street kakinada-533 001/ 11 Smt. Avala Suryakantham W/o late Suryanarayana R/o D. No. 4-1-46, Vallabhi Street, kakinada-533 001. 12 Sri Karri Rambabu S/o Satyanarayana Murthy R/o D. No. 5-5-26 Vallabhi Street Kakinada-533 001. 13 Smt. Mulleti Saraswathi W/o Manikyam R/o D. No. 3-11-80/23 Vallabhi Street, Recharlapeta near Railway gate kakinada-533001. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Collector, Kakinada East Godavari District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer (Land acquisition Officer) 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 will be pleased to issue any Writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of wit of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in acquiring the properties of the petitioners 1 to 13 situate in Vallabhai Street, Kakinada and the impugned order or the 1st respondent in Ref/G3/3271/2007 dt 09-11-2007 without following due process of law is arbitrary, capricious, illegal and in violation of section 5-A of the land acquisition act and also in violation of Article 300-A of Constitution of India and also in violation of Principles of natural justice and consequently to set-a side the proceedings of the 1st respondent in Ref./G3/3271/2007 dt 09- 11-2007 or pass any other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner: SMT.N.(P).ANJANA DEVI, SATYANARAYANA Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR LAND ACQUISITION The Court made the following ORDER: The land and structures of the petitioners were notiﬁed for the purpose of constructing a road over bridge. The notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act) was issued on 04.08.2007 and the enquiry under Section 5-A was conducted. After considering the objections made by the aﬀected persons, the Collector, the ﬁrst respondent herein, issued proceedings, dated 09.11.2007, rejecting the objections and deciding to proceed with the acquisition. The petitioners state that though they have submitted objections in the course of enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act, they were not given an opportunity of being heard. It is also stated that despite availability of the Government land in the vicinity, the premises of the petitioners were chosen on political considerations. The respondents ﬁled a counter-aﬃdavit opposing the plea of the petitioners. It is stated that the location of the road over bridge was selected, after taking aspects into consideration. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition. Out of 13 petitioners, petitioners 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, and 13 are said to have compromised with the respondents and expressed their willingness for parting with the properties. It cannot be said that the purpose for which the properties of the petitioners are being acquired is not a public one. Having issued a notiﬁcation under Section 4(1) of the Act, the respondents conducted enquiry under Section 5-A. A detailed order was passed on 09.11.2007 dealing with every contention advanced on behalf of the aﬀected parties. The plea as to the availability of the Government land was also discussed under para ‘8’ and it was pointed out that it is not at all feasible to shift the construction. The grievance of the petitioners mainly appears to be as regards the value of the acquired property. The petitioners can, certainly, put forward their case as to the amount of compensation, during the award enquiry. Even if they feel dissatisﬁed with the award, they can pursue their remedy under Section 18 of the Act. This Court is not able to ﬁnd any serious legal or factual defect in the proceedings. Hence, the writ petition is dismissed, leaving it open to the petitioners to put forward their contention as to the value of their properties during the course of award enquiry. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________ L.NARASIMHA REDDY,J Dt:17.09.2008. kdl