THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH W.P.NO.14292 OF 2006 O R D E R Heard the counsel for the petitioner and the Assistant Government Pleader for Land Acquisition. 2. The case of the petitioners, who are three in number, is that they are the owners and possessors of agricultural wet land situated in Sy.Nos.196 admeasuring 1.48 cents, 0.25 cents and Ac.1.01 cents respectively situate at Tadepalli Mandal, Uppergudem, h/o of Madhavaram village, West Godavari District and the said land is the only source of their income. The respondents issued notification on 21.5.2006 under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring the said land for providing house sites to the weaker sections. The grievance of the petitioners is that the lands are agricultural wet lands and not suitable for house sites and further the respondents without following the procedure contemplated under Section 5-A of the Act and though there is no urgency, invoking the urgency provision under Section 17, are trying to dispossess them without following the due process of law and hence, they filed the present writ petition. 3. This court by interim order dated 17.7.2006 in WPMP.No.17789/2006 in W.P.No.14292/2006 granted interim stay. 4. The 4th respondent – Mandal Revenue Officer, Tadepalligudem Mandal, West Godavari District filed vacate petition and counter affidavit on behalf of the respondents. In the counter it is stated that the Government has taken a policy decision to develop model villages for providing house sites to the house less poor families and in that process, the Mandal Revenue Officer inspected the lands under acquisition in Upparagudem village on 20.4.2006 and found the land to an extent of Acs.2.62 cents in R.S.No.196 belonging to Sri Chanuboina Tatabbaih and others, which is adjacent to the village, suitable for acquisition and there is also no Government land or poramboke in Upparagudem village for grant of house sites to weaker sections. It is stated that the land has been selected based on the utility factor for inhabitation purpose and the compensation will be paid to the land ownes as per the procedure land down under the Act. The Land Acquisition Officer has not taken possession of the land so far and the petitioners were never dispossessed for their agriculture landsat any stage of the land acquisition process as contended by them. The lands which are sought to be acquired are dry in nature and hence the contention of the petitioners that the lands proposed for acquisition are wet lands and are chosen at the instance of the 5th respondent is not tenable. Though the land is classified as Government wet in the village accounts, the land is high level rain fed, and no source of water supply, hence it can be treated as dry. Even the assessment collected is as per dry rate norms. Accordingly the Mandal Revenue Officer, Tadepalligudem has submitted the proposals of draft notification under Section 4(1) and draft declaration under Section 6, dispensing with Section 5- A enquiry and the District Collector approved the proposals of draft notification and draft declaration on 21.5.2006 and 8.6.2006 respectively and the enquiry under Section 5-A of the Act has been dispensed with duly invoking the urgency clause under Section 17(4) of the Act. After approval of the said proposals by the District Collector, West Godavari District at Eluru, the Draft notification under Section 4(1) and draft declaration under Section 6 of the Act were published in the following manner: Sl.no. Mode of publication Date of publication of draft notification Date of publication of draft declaration 1. West Godavari District Gazette 6.6.2006 19.6.2006 2. State Times daily Newspaper 27.5.2006 3. Vaartha daily newspaper 28.5.2006 4. Gopikrishna daily newspaper 16.6.2006 5. Visalandra daily newspaper 16.6.2006 6. Substance in the locality 28.5.2006 18.6.2006 Notices under Section 9(1) and 10 of Land Acquisition Act has been issued and published in the notice board of Gram Panchayat and also at conspicuous places on 22.6.2006. Thereafter notices under Section 9(3) and 10 of Act were issued to the land owners on 22.6.2006 calling for objections, if any, and to appear before the Land Acquisition Officer on 1.7.2006 for award enquiry. But the land owners refused to take delivery of the said notices and neither attended the award enquiry, nor filed objections. At that stage, the District Collector directed the Revenue Divisional Officer and Land Acquisition Officer, Eluru to conduct Section 5-A enquiry as per instructions of the Government and pursuant to the same, notices under Section 5-A of the Act were served on the land owners on 22.7.2006 asking them to file objections, if any, on 31.7.2006 and at that stage, the petitioners filed the present writ petition and obtained interim stay and in view of the same, the acquisition proceedings could not be proceeded further. With these averments inter alia, the writ petition was sought to be dismissed. 5. The grievance of the petitioners is that the land in question is their only source of livelihood and their further grievance is that Section 5-A enquiry is dispensed with. But from the averments made in the counter affidavit, the Government has taken a policy decision to provide house sites to the weaker sections and in that process on inspection, as the lands in question were found to be suitable for inhabitation, the said lands were proposed to be acquired and accordingly notification under Section 4(1) was issued. Initially though Section 5-A enquiry was dispensed with and urgency provision under Section 17(4) was invoked, as per the instructions of the Government, the District Collect directed the Revenue Divisional Officer and Land Acquisition Officer, Eluru to conduct Section 5-A enquiry and pursuant to the same, the notices were served on the land owners on 22.7.2006 asking them to file objections and at that stage the petitioners have approached this court by filing writ petition. In the counter it is also stated that the petitioners were never dispossessed from their agricultural lands. 6. Therefore, in view of the averments made in the counter affidavit and also having regard to the above facts and circumstances, as the Government has taken policy decision to provide house sites to the weaker sections and the land in question was found to be suitable, on inspection by the Mandal Revenue Officer, I am of the view that issuance of the notification under Section 4(1) cannot be interfered with by this court and as Section 5-A enquiry is being conducted, the petitioners are always at liberty to attend the award enquiry before the Land Acquisition Officer and prove their title and receive compensation as per law. 7. Hence, the interim stay granted by this court on17.7.2006 is hereby vacated and the respondents are at liberty to proceed with the acquisition proceedings in accordance with law and the writ petition is disposed of with the above observation. No costs. AVS ------------------------------- 10—03—2010 Note: Issue C.C. by tomorrow. B/O