THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY WRIT PETITION No.14666 of 2003 Date of Order:31.03.2011 Between: Malreddy Sudhakar and others ..Petitioners and Government of A.P., rep. By its Secretary and another ..Respondents The Court made the following Order: THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY WRIT PETITION No.14666 of 2003 ORDER :- The controversy in the present writ petition is with regard to the payment of ex gratia for the lands acquired due to sub-mergence in Balancing Reservoir of Alaganur village, Midthur Mandal, Kunrool District as per G.O.Ms.No.639, dated 29.09.2001. By the said G.O., the Government classified the individuals into four categories on payment of ex gratia as under: - (i) to pay ex gratia for the lands which are in Category “A” i.e., to D.K.T.Patta Holders in terms of G.O.Ms.No.1307, Revenue, dated 23.12.1993. (ii) As regards the lands covered in Category “B” i.e., those who have been cultivating the land for a long period without ‘D’ form pattas, as whose possession is confirmed by entries in 10(1) and the Adangal accounts, may be paid ex gratia which is equivalent to market value without Solatium. (iii) As regards the land in category ‘D’ i.e., those who are in possession and enjoyment of the lands and whose names are found only in the Adangal, may be paid ex gratia which is 50% of the market value for deprivation of livelihood. No solatium would be payable. (iv) As regards Category “C” i.e., persons who have purchased assigned lands from D.K.T. Patta holders, will not be entitled for any ex gratia, as it amounts to violation of the conditions of assignment and contravention of the provision of A.P. Assigned lands (POT) Act, 1977. Petitioners, who are claiming to be in occupation of the land, which is assigned in their favour by issuing ‘D’ form pattas, filed the present writ petition to declare the action of the respondents in treating them as under category ‘D’ as per G.O.Ms.No.639, dated 29.09.2001, and paying 50% ex gratia as arbitrary and illegal and to treat them under category ‘A’ and to pay the ex gratia at Rs.50,000/- per acre for wet lands and Rs.36,000/- per acre for dry lands with solatium as it was paid to D.K.T.Patta holders under the said G.O. It is their case that petitioner Nos.5, 6 and 34 are having pattadar passbooks, while the names of the petitioner Nos.16 to 20 and 26 are entered in D.K.T. registers and others are having ‘D’ form pattas. The petitioners are personally cultivating the lands and are living with the income derived from the lands and they are entitled to be categorised under ‘A’ category. A detailed counter affidavit has been filed by the Special Deputy Collector-1st respondent stating that petitioner Nos.5, 6 and 31 are having pattadar passbooks, but some other persons also obtained pattadar passbooks for the very same survey numbers by managing the lower level staff. The Ex- Village Administrative Officer and Village Assistants are kept under suspension for doing all these fraudulent things and denied that the names of the petitioners at Sl.Nos.16 to 20 and 26 are entered in D.K.T. Registers. Petitioners at Sl.Nos.1, 3, 8 and 21 along with others have requested for payment of ex gratia stating that they are having ‘D’ form pattas. When the ‘D‘ form pattas were forwarded to the Mandal Revenue Officer for enquiry, he submitted a report stating that they are only enjoyers and the ‘D’ form pattas produced by them are forged. Writ petitioners at Sl.Nos.9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 24 and 26 viz., Shaik Rassol, Mala Yerra Yesu, Midde Pullamma, Sofi Saheb, Kuruva Rangaswamy, Noor Ahammed and Polagalla Subbarayudu were found in the assignment register but failed to produce ‘D’ form pattas. Hence, they were paid ex gratia treating them as enjoyers. The names of petitioners at Sl.Nos.1 to 8, 11, 12, 13, 16 to 23, 25 and 27 to 34 are not found in the assignment register, whereas the writings on ‘D’ form patta appears to be fresh and of recent origin. The names of the petitioners at Sl.Nos.9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 24 and 26 are entered in the assignment register, but their names are not found in 10(1) account. The names of the petitioners at Sl.Nos.1 to 8, 11, 12, 13, 16 to 23, 25 and 27 to 34 are not found in the copy of the assignment register furnished by the Mandal Revenue Officer. The D.K.T.Pattas produced by the petitioner Nos.1 to 8, 11, 12, 13, 16 to 23, 25 and 27 to 34 are not entered in the assignment registers. The signatures of the Tahsildar, Nandikutkur on 15.08.1985 varies from each ‘D’ form patta. Hence, the said ‘D’ Form pattas are fabricated. As per the revenue records, the lands under cultivation of petitioners at sl.Nos.12, 14, 16 to 20 and 34 are Government assessed waste lands and dry lands as per resettlement register. Therefore, treating the lands as wet and payment of ex gratia under wet category does not arise. It is further submitted that as regards the case of the petitioner Nos. 23 and 25, the report of the Mandal Revenue Officer, dated 12.02.1999 discloses that ‘D’ form pattas produced by them are fake pattas. Therefore, they are not entitled for the relief claimed. A reply affidavit has been filed denying about conducting of the Gram Sabha and denying the averments made in the counter. From the averments made in the counter affidavit and in the reply affidavit, it discloses that when the persons more than one claimed compensation for the very same lands and when the persons whose names were not entered in the register maintained in the assignment were granted D.K.T.pattas, it is presumed that either of them is not genuine. In view of the same, this Court cannot make any enquiry into the claim of the petitioners for categorising them under category ‘A’ and issue a writ of Mandamus for payment of the compensation. The Joint Collector has to verify the D.K.T.Pattas produced by the petitioners and genuineness of their claim, on petitioners submitting a representation enclosing the ‘D’ form pattas, and submit a report to the Special Deputy Collector for appropriate action. On such report being filed, the Special Deputy Collector can pass appropriate orders after giving due notice to the petitioners. Subject to the above direction, the Writ Petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. ____________________ A. GOPAL REDDY, J March 31, 2011 Lmv