IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 25054 of 2007 Between: Avatar Meharbaba Charitable Trust, Tettekunta Village (Chandragiri Agraharam), Vemulawada Mandal, Karimnagar District, Rep. by its Chairman Sri D. Prabhakar Rao, S/o. D. Surya Rao, Aged about 60 Years. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The District Collector, Karimnagar District, Karimnagar. 2 The Mandal Revenue officer, Vemulawada 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 direction, writ order or orders, particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondent in not passing the order pursuant to letter bearing No. I/360/2004 dated 29-5- 2007 issued by the Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer addressed to Collector requesting to pass orders for the transfer of the land to Sri Avatar Mehar Baba Trust an extent of 8-35 guntas in Sy.No. 4 situated at Tattikunta Village, Vemulawada Mandal, Karimnagar District and letter dated 30-7-2007 issued by the Assistant Commissioner, Endowments Department to allot above said land to Avatar Mehar Baba Trust which was under the possession of the subject temple for the last 9 years and above which is arbitrary and illegal. Counsel for the Petitioner: MOHD.ASIFUDDIN Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following ORDER: THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA Writ Petition No.25054 of 2007 Order: This writ petition is ﬁled by Avatar Mehar Baba Charitable Trust, Tettekunta Village, Vemulawada Mandal, Karimnagar District, aggrieved by the action of the respondents in not passing any orders pursuant to the letters, dated 29.052.007 and 30.07.2007, issued by the Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Sircilla and the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments respectively requesting to pass orders for transfer and allotment of land to an extent of Acs.8.35 guntas situated in Survey No.4 of Tattikunta Village, Vemulawada Mandal, Karimnagar District in its favour. The brief facts, which lead to ﬁling of this writ petition, are as follows. The petitioner-trust has been formed to inculcate the ideology of Avatar Mehar Baba and to undertake social welfare activities not only in Tettekunta Village but also in the nearby villages. It made an application to the ﬁrst respondent, namely, District Collector, Karimnagar, to assign/alienate Government land to an extent of Acs.10.00 situated in Survey No.4 of Tetteukunta Village, Vemulawada Mandal, for construction of Sri Sri Sri Avatar Mehar Baba Ashram and the ﬁrst respondent vide letter, dated 07.07.1999, called for proposals from the second respondent, namely, the Mandal Revenue Officer, Vemulawada. While so, the petitioner-trust has been put in possession of the land to an extent of Acs.8.35 guntas. It constructed a temple in the land and installed the idol of Sri Avatar Mehar Baba, and as there is vacant Government land in and around the temple, again it requested the ﬁrst respondent to assign the same in its favour to develop the temple. As there was no response from the ﬁrst respondent, it ﬁled W.P.No.3081 of 2004, which was disposed of by this Court on 30.08.2004 directing the District Collector to consider the application of the petitioner-trust for alienation of land expeditiously, preferably within a period of eight weeks. The Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Sircilla vide his letter, dated 29.05.2007, requested the ﬁrst respondent to pass necessary orders for transfer of land in question in favour of the petitioner-trust. Even the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments, Karimnagar vide his letter, dated 30.07.2007, addressed to the second respondent, requested to allot the land in question, which has been in possession of the petitioner- trust for the last more than nine years, in favour of the petitioner-trust. The proposals are pending before the respondents since May, 2007 and even after lapse of more than six months, the respondents have not passed any orders so far. Hence, this writ petition. On behalf of the respondents, a counter aﬃdavit is ﬁled by the second respondent admitting the fact that the petitioner- trust made an application for alienation of the land in question in its favour, but as the petitioner-trust failed to submit necessary documents, the respondents could not pass any orders. There are certain denials in the counter aﬃdavit with regard to the entries made in the revenue records and pahanies. It is stated that on a request made by the villagers, house site pattas were issued in favour of 32 beneﬁciaries for the land an extent of Acs.2.00 situated in Survey No.4 during the year 2003. It is also stated that the petitioner-trust has unlawfully entered into the Government land and made constructions without the permission of the Gram Panchayat. However, as per the directions of this Court in W.P.No.3081 of 2004 on 30.08.2004, the respondents made necessary enquiries for alienation of the land in question in favour of the petitioner, and even made publication calling for objections, pursuant to which, the Sarpanch, Gram Panchyat, ﬁled a representation stating that out of the land proposed for alienation in favour of the petitioner-trust, some land has already been given as house sites to the beneﬁciaries and still some more persons are in need of house sites and as such, the request of the petitioner-trust cannot be considered. The Sarpanch has further stated that the Gram Panchayat has passed a resolution to give only Ac.0.05 guntas of land to the petitioner-trust and that the Gram Panchayat has unanimously resolved not to allot any Government land without its permission, as the authorities of the petitioner-trust have dismantled the huts erected by the beneﬁciaries in the Government land allotted to them. In this regard, eﬀorts were made by the Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer, Sircilla and the second respondent duly convening meetings jointly on 06.10.2005 and 20.07.2006 with the authorities of the petitioner-trust and village elders/beneficiaries, in vain. It is further stated that the respondents are contemplating to consider the request of the petitioner-trust by deleting some portion of the land as some extent of the land was allotted as house sites to the beneﬁciaries, for which, the petitioner-trust has not accepted. Hence, it is stated that the alienation proposals are still pending. After ﬁling counter aﬃdavit, when the matter came up for consideration on 14.08.2008, the learned Government Pleader for Revenue sought time to get instructions as to the status of the alienation proposals. Today, when the matter is taken up for consideration, the learned Government Pleader produced a fax message sent by the second respondent stating that A1-notice was published on 05.07.2007 under Alienation Rules for alienation of land in question in favour of the petitioner-trust, that as the villagers raised objections, the Gram Panchayat passed resolution to allot only Acs.0.05 guntas to the petitioner-trust, as the remaining land is required for public purpose and that the alienation proposals are pending for want of revised requisition from the Endowment Department. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for the respondents. Though the petitioner contends that in spite of addressing letters by the Revenue Divisional Oﬃcer and the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments requesting the respondents to alienate the land in its favour, the respondents have not passed any orders so far, the fact remains that pursuant to the objections called for by the respondents, the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchat ﬁled a representation stating that out of the proposed land for alienation, some land has already been given as house sites to some beneﬁciaries and the Gram Panchayat passed a resolution to give only Ac.0.05 guntas of land to the petitioner. In view of the same, the alienation proposals are not ﬁnalized and the same are still pending consideration before the ﬁrst respondent. It is not known whether the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments has sent revised requisition to the respondents and whether the requisition made by the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments on 30.07.2007 was subsequent to the resolution passed by the Gram Panchayat. Under the above circumstances, the writ petition is disposed of directing the ﬁrst respondent, namely, the District Collector, Karimnagar District, Karimnagar, to call for a meeting with the Endowments Department as well as the Gram Panchayat and after negotiations, he is directed to take a decision and complete the alienation proceedings within a reasonable period of four months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs. ___________________ N.V. RAMANA, J. Date:16.09.2008 VGB