IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO:15466 of 2008 Between: Mora Bhadresham S/o.Anjaiah R/o. Deshaipet Grampanchayat, Choppadandi Mandal, Karimnagar District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The State of AP rep. by its Secretary Irrigation and Command Area Development, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The District Collector, Karimnagar. 3 The District Panchayat Raj Officer, Karimnagar. 4 Revelli Grampanchayat Rep. by its Sarpanch, Revelli Village, Choppadandi Mandal, Karimnagar 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 a Writ or order/s more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the proceedings vide D4/2255/07 dated 28.8.2007 issued by the 2nd respondent as being illegal, arbitrary and without jurisdiction and consequently direct the respondents no.1 to 3 to forthwith take necessary action for clearly earmarking the bund area of Deshaipet Grampanchayat and Revelli Grampanchayat in Sy.No. 1143 covering tank bund area of pedda cheruvu. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.B.VIJAYSEN REDDY Counsel for the Respondents:GP FOR IRRIGATION & COMM AREA DEV. The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed seeking a mandamus declaring proceedings No.D4/2255/07, dated 28.08.2007 issued by the second respondent as arbitrary and illegal and consequently, direct respondents 1 to 3 to forthwith take necessary action for clearly earmarking the bund area of Deshaipet and Revelli Gram Panchayats in Survey No.1143 covering the tank bund area of peddacheruvu. It is the case of the petitioner that he is the Sarpanch of Deshaipet Gram Panchayat, Choppadandi Mandal, Karimnagar District. The erstwhile Ragampet revenue village of Choppadandi Mandal was divided into four separate Gram Panchayats as per the gazette notification, dated 20.06.2002. The survey numbers of Ragampet revenue village was divided into four parts and published in the said gazette. Survey No.1143 Shikam admeasuring Acs.218.30 guntas covering the tank bed area of peddacheruvu was divided into two equal parts i.e. Acs.109.15 guntas allotted to Revelli Gram Panchayat, fourth respondent, and Acs.109.15 guntas was allotted to Deshaipet Gram Panchayat. The Mandal Revenue Officer, Choppadandi Mandal, has inspected the spot and got measured the bund length. The bund measured 1410 meters. Basing on the notified shikam area, the total length of the tank bund was divided into two equal parts. The bund starting from northern side to 705 meters distance point at Katta Mysamma tree has been earmarked to Revelli Gram Panchayat (fourth respondent) and the rest of the length of the tank bund right from 706 point to end of 1410 meters i.e. southern side of the bund has been earmarked to Deshaipet Gram Panchayat and it was approved by the Government. However, in view of certain disputes, Revelli Gram Panchayat, fourth respondent, filed W.P.No.7447 of 2007 before this Court against the second respondent and the petitioner herein alleging that the Mandal Revenue Officer without issuing notice has divided the tank bund and other areas. Later, the Sarpanch withdrew the writ petition with liberty to the petitioner to challenge the bifurcation of the Gram Panchayats. While the matter stood thus, the second respondent issued the impugned proceedings, dated 28.08.2007 directing all the Officers to maintain status quo as on the date of the draft publication of changes duly following the instructions given by the Government till the settlement of the constituencies by the Commission and final publication of the areas of Karimnagar gazette after disposal of claims and objections received from all the representatives by the second respondent. According to the petitioner, this is an arbitrary action on the part of the respondents in keeping the matter in abeyance, though it was approved by the Government. A detailed counter-affidavit has been filed by the first respondent. It is stated that Peddacheruvu, Ragampet Village of Choppadandi Mandal, Karimnagar District, is having an ayacut of 560 acres and is under the control of Irrigation Division, Karimnagar. The tank was formed long back. Most of the submergence area of the tank is situated in Regampet Village only. Further, the election was conducted to the Water Users Association of Peddacheruvu, Ragampet Village of Choppadandi Mandal on 23.10.2003, 07.01.2006 and 19.01.2008 on rotation system as per Andhra Pradesh Farmers Management of Irrigation Systems Act, 1997 (for short ‘the Act’). The process of delimitation of the constituencies is completed and as soon as the Government orders are received, the objections and suggestions will be received and then, it will be approved by the competent authority. The division of the tank bund including sluices area of Peddacheruvu is not proper and it is not possible to maintain the tank, since two sources consisting one continuous bund. Moreover, the right and responsibility of the tank lies with the Water Users Association as per Section 17 read with Section 22 of the Act and Rule 5 of the Rules. Be that as it may, it appears, since the delimitation work of the constituencies was in progress at a particular point of time, the case was not taken up for demarcating the tank bund between the two villages i.e. Deshaipet and Ragampet Villages, as such, it was pending. Now, the delimitation to the constituencies has been completed. Under those circumstances, respondent Nos.1 and 2 are directed to conduct fresh enquiry into the matter after issuing notice to both the parties and consider giving effect to the approval given by the Government earlier for the purpose of dividing the bund area of the peddacheruvu tank between Deshaipet and Ragampet Villages. The respondents shall complete this exercise within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The writ petition is accordingly, disposed of. No costs. ________________ C.V.RAMULU, J 24th DECEMBER, 2008 kvni