IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY SIXTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No. 19622 of 2002 Between: 1 Kukkadapu Sriguru Venkata Naga Murali Krishna, S/o. Gopaiah, Hindu, R/o. House No.3-3, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 2 Gella Srinivasa Rao, S/o. Chandrasekhara Rao, Hindu, R/o. House No.2-118, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 3 Tellakula Venkata Ramaiah, S/o. Rama Narasaiah, Hindu, R/o. House No. 1-30, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 4 Gella Venkata Ramana Gupta, S/o. Sangameshwara Rao, Hindu, R/o. House No.5-65, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 5 Rayapudi sha Rani, W/o. Srinivasa Rao, Hindu, R/o. House No.2-113/1, Main Road, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 6 Bhavanasi Vijaya Kumari, W/o. Durga Rao, Hindu, R/o. House No. 5-64, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 7 Chikatamalla Vijaya Kumari, W/o. Nageswara Rao, Hindu, R/o. House No.5-60, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 8 Kandukuri Hanumantah Rao, S/o. Srisailam, Hindu, R/o. House No. 5-41, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 9 Egga Bhadramma, W/o. Appaiah, Hindu, R/o. House No. 5-42, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 10 Gorantla Narasimha Rao, S/o. Narayana Rao, Hindu, R/o. House No. 5-40, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 11 Juvvaji Nageswara Rao, S/o. Basavaiah, Hindu, R/o. House No. 2-114, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 12 Gujjethi Venkata Rama Kriashna Prasad, S/o. Mallaiah, Hindu, R/o. House No.5-43, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 13 Rayapudi Nageswara Rao, S/o. Venkata Narayana, Hindu, R/o. House No.3-2, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. 14 Vangaveeti Kishore, S/o. Peda Krishna Rao, Hindu, R/o. H.No. 3-29/1, Main Road, Nelakondapally Village and Mandal, Khammam District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Executive Engineer, R & B , Khammam, Khammam District. 2 The District Collector, Khammam. 3 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Secretary, Roads and Buildings Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners: SRI R.L.NARASIMHA PHANI REPRESENTING SRI AMBADIPUDI SATYANARAYANA Counsel for the Respondents: The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.19622 of 2002 ORDER: This writ petition is filed for a writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in proposing to demolish the houses or part thereof and other structures belonging to the petitioners situated on either side of Kodad - Khammam road in Nelakondapally village and Mandal of Khammam District, as illegal and arbitrary. Heard Sri R.L.Narasimha Phani, learned counsel representing Sri A.Satyanarayana, learned counsel for the petitioners. No one appeared for the respondents. The grievance of the petitioners, as reflected in the averments contained in the affidavit and reinforced by the learned counsel for the petitioners at the hearing, is that in order to widen the abovementioned road, the respondents are taking steps to demolish the structures raised by the petitioners on either side of the road either partly or in full, without initiating any proceedings under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short ‘the Act’) and following due procedure of issuing a prior notice to the petitioners. In the counter affidavit filed by respondent No.1, it is inter alia stated that though the width of the existing road is 40 feet, the required right of way is 50 feet on either side from the road center, to accommodate side drains, footpaths, telephone cables, water lines etc., and that the petitioners, instead of constructing their houses by leaving minimum set back of 50 feet from the center of the road, encroached into the Government land by violating the bye-laws of local bodies. It is further stated that till the date of filing of counter, no demolition work was taken up, except marking road boundaries and encroachments, and that demolition of structures raised by encroaching into the Government land will be taken up by initiating necessary procedure in accordance with law. Having regard to the abovementioned averment contained in the counter affidavit that the respondents will follow due process of law before taking up work of removal of the alleged encroachments, the writ petition need not be adjudicated on merits. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of by placing on record the statement contained in the counter affidavit referred to above that the respondents will follow procedure envisaged by law before removing alleged encroachments for the purpose of road widening. ________________________ C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY,J 26.02.2009 v v