THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO.1876 OF 2006 Dated 29th July, 2010 Between: Somala Kama Raju and others …Petitioners And The District Collector and another …Respondents Counsel for the petitioners : Sri B.Devanand Counsel for the respondents: AGP for Revenue (Assignments) The Court made the following ORDER: This writ petition is filed for a Mandamus to declare the inaction of the respondents in granting pattas to the petitioners in Survey No.388/1, 2 and 3 of Yeleswaram Village and Mandal, East Godavari District for the purpose of construction of houses as illegal and arbitrary. I have heard Sri B.Devanand, learned counsel for the petitioners, and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue (Assignments). The petitioners belong to Scheduled Tribe Community. They are residents of Lakkavaram and Kambalapalem Villages of Yeleswaram Mandal, East Godavari District. Those two Villages along with some other Villages were submerged under Yeleru Reservoir Project. On the representation made by the displaced villagers under the Project, the respondents have acquired Acs.7.65 cents of land in the abovementioned survey number of Yeleswaram Village for rehabilitation of the displaced persons by providing house sites to them. The grievance of the petitioners is that the respondents failed to take follow up action by granting house site pattas to them. Respondent No.2 filed a counter-affidavit, wherein he has admitted that the petitioners belong to Scheduled Tribe Community and that they are displaced under the Yeleru Reservoir Project. He has also admitted that an extent of Ac.7.65 cents in the abovementioned survey number of Yeleswaram Village was acquired for the purpose of rehabilitation of Lakkavaram villagers. It is, however, averred that one of the land owners by name Uppala Sairam filed W.P.No.3441 of 2002 and obtained an interim order not to dispossess him from the extent of Ac.4.03 cents in Survey No.388/3 and that the said writ petition was disposed of on 26.11.2002 with the direction to the Land Acquisition Officer/Revenue Divisional Officer to complete the award enquiry within a period of three months. That subsequently as per the District Collector’s orders, an extent of Ac.0.15 cents covered by Survey No.388/1 and 2, over which one pucca upstair building and a thatched house were located, was permitted to be excluded and the remaining extent of land i.e., Ac.7.50 cents was taken possession by the Mandal Revenue Officer, Yeleswaram, on 05.03.2004 and kept in the custody of the Panchayat Secretary, Gram Panchayat, Yeleswaram. It is also averred that one Viswanadham Gopalarao and five others have filed Writ Petition No.4670 of 2004, which was disposed of by this Court on 01.11.2004 with the observation that the petitioners are free to approach the Government by making a representation and that as and when such representation is received, it shall be open to the Government to pass appropriate orders. That in pursuance of the said order, the petitioners in the said writ petition have filed their representations to the Government and that the District Collector submitted his report dated 08.04.2005 recommending for exclusion of an extent of 1287 square yards belonging to the six persons and that further orders are awaited from the Government. Another writ petition i.e, W.P.No.27403 of 2005 was filed by Uppala Sairam and another, which was stated to be pending in this Court and in which on 06.01.2006, this Court granted an order of status quo regarding possession. On the above facts, respondent No.2 has pleaded that as there are legal impediments for the respondents on distribution of the house site pattas in respect of the acquired land, they can alternatively allot plots to the petitioners from out of 144 house sites ready for distribution in Parimithadaka, H/o Marriveedu Village, Yeleswaram Mandal, where the petitioners are presently residing. It is further stated that as a part of rehabilitation programme, certain pattas were distributed to others in respect of the plots situated in the said Parimithadaka, but the petitioners have refused to receive pattas in respect thereof. At the hearing, the learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the respondents have not taken proper interest in overcoming the legal hurdles and that they have not come out with the latest position with respect to the pending litigation as the counter-affidavit was filed as early as August, 2006. The learned Assistant Government Pleader is unable to report to the Court on the present stage of Writ Petition No.27403 of 2005. If the said writ petition is still pending and interim order dated 06.01.2006 is operating, it will not be possible for this Court to direct the respondents to distribute the pattas to the petitioners from out of the extent of Ac.7.50 cents of Yeleswaram Village acquired by the respondents. On the other hand, if the writ petition was already disposed of and there is no legal hurdle for the respondents to distribute pattas, there can be no justifiable reasons for the respondents to deny pattas to the petitioners. In the above fact situation, the writ petition is disposed of in the following terms. (a) If Writ Petition No.27403 of 2005 was disposed of and no order restraining the respondents from distributing the pattas in respect of Ac.7.50 cents of Yeleswaram Village is in force, the respondents shall consider and distribute house site pattas to the petitioners subject to their eligibility. (b) If the abovementioned writ petition is pending and interim order is subsisting, the respondents shall grant pattas to the petitioners from out of 144 plots of Parimithadaka, H/o Marriveedu, if they are still available and (c) if the petitioners are not willing to take the plots referred to in (b) supra, the respondents shall consider granting of pattas to them in Sy.No.388/1, 2 & 3 of Yeleswaram Village after the disposal of Writ Petition No.27403 of 2005. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Dated 29th July, 2010 vrn