IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION NO : 5655 of 2008 Between: 1 Munnangi Chencha Reddy S/o. Gopal Reddy, R/o. Kandlagunta Village, Nagulluppalapadu Mandal, Prakasam District. 2 Munnangi Dasaradharami Reddy, S/o. Achireddy, R/o. Kandlagunta Village, Nagulluppalapadu Mandal, Prakasam District. 3 Yeeram Venkatarami Reddy, S/o. Venkat Reddy, R/o. Kandlagunta Village, Nagulluppalapadu Mandal, Prakasam District. 4 Munnangi Pullareddy, S/o. Chenchareddy, R/o. Kandlagunta Village, Nagulluppalapadu Mandal, Prakasam District. 5 Pallerla Koti Reddy, S/o. Krishna Reddy, R/o. Kandlagunta Village, Nagulluppalapadu Mandal, Prakasam District. 6 Munnangi Anjamma, W/o. Veeraswamy Reddy, R/o. Kandlagunta Village, Nagulluppalapadu Mandal, Prakasam District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The District Collector, Prakasam District, Ongole, 2 Special Collector (Land Acquisition), Prakasam Dsitrict, Ongole. 3 Special Collector (land Acquisition) Kandula Obula Reddy Gundlakamma Reservoir Project, Ongole, Prakasam District. 4 Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep by its Prl.Secretary to Government, I&CAD Department, Secretariat, 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 a writ, order or direction more in the nature of Writ of mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents in dispensing with the enquiry under Section 5A by issuing the Notification through proceedings Rc.No. D1/64/2008 dt. 16-2-2008 Under Section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 by publishing the same in Surya Daily New paper, proposing to acquire the lands of the petitioners in Sy.Nos. 43- 2A2 Ac. 0-28 cents, 40-1B2 Ac. 1-45 cents, 40-1C2 Ac. 1-82, 40-2B Ac. 1-66 cents, 40-3A1 AC. 1-40 cents and 125-2B Ac. 1-53 cents, Kandlagunta Village, Nagulluppalapadu Mandal, Prakasam District and the consequential declaring issued under Section 6 in proceedings Rc.D1/64/2008 dt. 1-3-2008 published in Vartha, dt. 2-3-2008 as illegal, arbitrary, without power or authority, offending Art. 14 of constitution of India and consequentially to direct the respondents refrain from proceeding further pursuant to the impugned notification. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.MADHAVA RAO NALLURI Counsel for the Respondent Nos.1 to 3: GP FOR LAND ACQUISITION Counsel for Respondent No.4: G.P. for Irrigation The Court made the following: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALAKRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION NO.5655 of 2008 ORDER: This Writ Petition is filed for a Writ of Mandamus to set aside the notice dated 16.2.2008 issued under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short the ‘Act’), whereby the agricultural lands of the petitioners mentioned in the Writ Petition are proposed to be acquired. 2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition. 3. A perusal of the impugned notification issued under Section 4(1) of the Act shows that the respondent-authorities proposed to acquire the lands of the petitioners for formation of main Canal and 18 TE Branch Canal from KM 21.975 to KM 8.640 of Kandula Obula Reddy Gundla Kamma Reservoir Project and alleging that as there was urgency, they invoked urgency clause under Section 17(4) of the Act and thereby dispensed with enquiry to be conducted under Section 5-A of the Act. Petitioners seek to assail the same, inasmuch as they were not given an opportunity to put forth their objections against the proposed acquisition. 4. No doubt, Section 1(4) of the Act enables the Land Acquisition authorities to dispense with the enquiry to be conducted under Section 5-A of the Act, but the same shall not be resorted to in normal circumstances. As the provisions of Section 5-A of the Act provide a valuable opportunity to the land owners to put forth their objections against the proposed acquisition, such an opportunity cannot be denied to them unless there is real urgency. The purpose mentioned in the notification impugned does not indicate that there is such an urgency to invoke urgency clause. Therefore, the action of the respondent- authorities in dispensing with enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act cannot be sustained. In UNION OF INDIA vs. KRISHNA LAL AMEJA1 the Supreme Court also observed that in the absence of any material to show subjective satisfaction, urgency clause under Section 17(4) of the Act cannot be invoked. The relevant portion of the said judgment reads as under: “Section 17 confers extraordinary powers on the authorities under which it can dispense with the normal procedure laid down under Section 5-A of the Act in exceptional case of urgency. Such powers cannot be lightly resorted to except in case of real urgency enabling the Government to take immediate possession of the land proposed to be acquired for public purpose. A public purpose, S.17 to use this extraordinary power as use of such power deprives a land owner of his right in relation to immovable property to file objections for the proposed acquisition and it also dispenses with the inquiry under S.5-A of the Act. The authority may have subjective satisfaction of the need for invoking urgency clause under S.17 keeping in mind the nature of the public purpose, real urgency that the situation demands and the time factor i.e., whether taking possession of the property can wait for a minimum period within which the objections could be received from the land owners and the inquiry under S.5-A of the Act could be completed”. 5. For the foregoing reasons, the Writ Petition is allowed in part and the portion of the impugned notification dated 16.2.2008, by which enquiry is dispensed with, and the consequential declaration under Section 6 of the Act dated 1.3.2008 are hereby quashed. The respondents are hereby directed to hold an enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act before seeking to proceed further with the proposed acquisition of the lands of the petitioners in S.Nos.43-2A2 – 28 cents; 40-1B2 – 1 acre 45 cents; 40-1C2 – 1 acre 82 cents; 40-2B – 1 acre 66 cents; 40- 3A1 – 1 acre 40 cents and 125-2B – 1 acre 53 cents of Kandlagunta village, Nagulluppalapadu Mandal, Prakasam District. There shall be no order as to costs. --------------------------- 17.03.2008 SSR To 1 The District Collector, Prakasam District, Ongole, 2 Special Collector (Land Acquisition), Prakasam Dsitrict, Ongole. 3 Special Collector (land Acquisition) Kandula Obula Reddy Gundlakamma Reservoir Project, Ongole, Prakasam District. 4 The Prl.Secretary to Government, I&CAD Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 5 2CCs to G.P. for Land Acquisition (OUT). 6 2 CCs to G.P. for Irrigation (OUT) 7 2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{SPJS} 1AIR 2004 SC 3582.