THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION Nos : 8680, 9041&9050 of 2008 COMMON ORDER: The petitioner in W.P.No.8680 of 2008 is the mandal parishad and those in W.P.Nos.9041 and 9050 of 2008 are the gram panchayats in the Vizianagaram District. Their grievance is that the zilla parishad, Vijayanagaram District has not distributed the amount realized, by granting leases of sand quarries, as provided for under the relevant Governments Orders. They plead that the lease amount realized from sand quarries was to be distributed among the zilla parishad, mandal parishad and gram panchayats, in which the reaches are located, at the ratio of 25:37.5:37.5 under G.O.Ms.No.255, dated 02.08.2001 and it was revised to 25:50:25 under G.O.Ms.No.24, dated 12.02.2007. The petitioners complain that the zilla parishad did not distribute, as provided for under the relevant Rules, and had appropriated the entire amount to itself. On behalf of the zill parishad, a counter aﬃdavit is ﬁled. The allegation of the petitioners that no amount was released as per the relevant G.Os. is not disputed. The appropriation of the entire amount is sought to be justiﬁed, on the ground that the amount was utilized for the welfare schemes in the District, for the beneﬁt of the mandals and gram panchayats, including the petitioners. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Standing Counsel for the zilla parishad. The plea raised by the petitioners, as regards their entitlement to be released the respective shares, from out of the amounts realized from sand quarries, is not disputed. In the counter aﬃdavit ﬁled on behalf of the zilla parishad, the extent of apportionment as provided for under the relevant G.Os. is also clearly mentioned. The utilization of the entire amount, so realized, is sought to be justified as under: In this connection, it is submitted that for payment of Pension to 600 pensioners an amount of 12.50 Lakhs was needed per month, including other Pensionary beneﬁts reaches/accumulates to Rs.4,41,01,696/- till 31.03.2003 itself. The Expenditure incurred as on 31.3.08 was Rs.4.87 Crores, which had to be released by Government P.R. Department from time to time for which a continuous correspondence is made with Government for release of the amount towards payment of retirement beneﬁts and Pensions to the retired employees who include Sweepers of Gram Panchayats, Non- Teaching staﬀ of Zilla Praja Parishad and Mandal Praja Parishads. Out of all the retired employees’ majority are class IV employees and remaining Non Gazetted who will depend only on pension for their lively hood. When the Government had framed Rules, providing for distribution of the amounts among the various local bodies, it was not at all open for the zilla parishad to appropriate the entire amount to itself. Such an action would amount to violation of the speciﬁc orders issued by the Government and the illegality, so perpetrated, cannot be countenanced. It is not at all open to the zilla parisahd to utilize the amount, which genuinely does not belong to it. There was a clear dereliction on the part of the zilla parishad. For the foregoing reasons, the writ petitions are allowed and the Zilla Parisahd, Vizianagaram District is directed to release the amounts, towards the shares of the petitioners, from out of the amounts realized from the leases of sand quarries over the areas, for past 3 years, within the jurisdiction of the gram panchayats and the mandal parishad, as the case may be, within a period of two months (2) from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. There shall be no order as to costs. _________ 09.09.2008 JSU THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION Nos : 8680, 9041&9050 of 2008 Date: 09.09.2008 JSU