IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE THIRTIETH DAY OF JANUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 18508 of 2001 Between: Hindustan Petrolem Corporation Limited, Rep by its Chief Manager,VSPL Project, Secunderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Court of the Junior Civil Judge, Jaggayyapet, Krishna District. 2 Ghandikota Venkata Gopala Krishna Murthy S/o Venkata Subbayya R/o Jaggayyapet, Krishna District. .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 to issue a writ , order or direction in the natureof Prohibition for biding the first respondent herein, namely, the Court of the Junior Civil Judge, Jaggayyapeta from continuting with the proceedings O.S.No.196/2001 on its file, filed by thesecond respondent herein and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.THOOMSRINIVAS Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.P.PRABHAKAR RAO The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI W.P.NO.18508 of 2001 ORDER Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, VSPL Project, Secunderabad is the petitioner in this writ petition. It is stated that the petitioner-Corporation under took Vijayawada - Secunderabad Pipe Line Project(VSPL) as per the instructions of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India and started laying the pipeline in terms of the provisions of Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in land) Act, 1962. The 2nd respondent, who claims to be the owner of an extent of Ac.1.92 ½ cents covered by Sy.No.128 of Jaggaiahpet Village and Mandal, filed O.S.No.196 of 2001 on the file of the Court of Junior Civil Judge, Jaggaiahpet for an injunction contending inter alia that the action of the Corporation in proceeding to lay a pipeline through his land without taking any steps for acquiring the said land, is illegal. The Corporation filed this writ petition contending that in view of the Sec.14 of Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in land) Act, 1962, the jurisdiction of the civil Court is barred and therefore the Court of Junior Civil Judge, Jaggaiahpet lacks jurisdiction to entertain the suit. This Court while directing rule nisi, by order dated.05.09.2001 granted interim stay of all further proceedings in O.S.No.196 of 2001. The temporary injunction granted by the Civil Court in I.A.No.572 of 2001 was also suspended by this Court and the said order remained in operation all through. When the writ petition is taken up for consideration, it is represented by the learned counsel for the petitioner-Corporation that during the pendency of this writ petition the Corporation had completed the laying of the pipeline. The said fact has not been disputed by the learned counsel for the 2nd respondent. In the circumstances it is not necessary for this Court to go into the larger issue whether O.S.No.196 of 2001 instituted by the 2nd respondent is maintainable. As a matter of fact the said suit for injunction itself has become infructuous since the pipeline has already been laid. At any rate, as observed above, nothing survives for adjudication on merits in this writ petition in view of the subsequent events. Accordingly the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. _____________ G.ROHINI,J 30th January 2009 *TSNR