WP/30815/2011 of G. Victoria, Vs The Revenue Divisional Officer, on 29 December 2011

ORDER:

This Writ Petition is filed for a Mandamus to declarethe inaction of the respondents in paying exgratia to thepetitioners for the lands situated in Thamballa Gondi Village,Atloor Mandal, YSR Kadapa District, which are allegedlyassigned to them, as illegal and arbitrary. The petitionerssought for a consequential direction to the respondents topay exgratia to them.

It is the pleaded case of the petitioners that originally,they belonged to the Villages that came undersubmergence of Somasila project; that later they have settled down at Thamballa Gondi Village; and that, as theyare landless poor persons, the then Tahsildar granted DKTpattas on 22.05.1985, assigning different extents of lands intheir favour. It is their further case that due to flash floods ofSagileru river in the year 1987, all their belongings includingthe original DKT pattas were washed away and that, on theinstructions of the Revenue Divisional Officer, dated04.12.1998, and after verification of the office records, theTahsildar issued duplicate DKT pattas to them on27.01.2010. The petitioners have given out references ofthe DKT patta numbers and the extents of the landsassigned to them. They pleaded that on their approachingthe Revenue Divisional Officer, the latter directedrespondent No.2 to inspect the lands for the purpose ofissuance of pattadar passbooks and title deeds, and that,after such inspection, respondent No.2 has sent proposalsto respondent No.1 on 01.07.2007, for issuance of pattadarpassbooks and title deeds in favour of the petitioners. It isthe further case of the petitioners that the State Governmenthas proposed to acquire their lands for the purpose of rightbank canal of Telugu Ganga project and for preservation ofa bird called ‘Kalivi Kodi’ and that, in pursuance thereof,respondent No.1 has issued notice, dated 12.03.2008,whereunder the above-mentioned DKT lands wereproposed for acquisition and objections were called for.Even though names of some of the petitioners were shownin the list, the particulars of the lands were shown as‘assessed waste’, but not as ‘assigned lands’ and that thereafter, respondent No.2 has issued fresh notices, dated04.10.2010, asking the petitioners to appear for enquiry on08.10.2010 along with the original D-form pattas and passport size photos. The petitioners further pleaded that as theycould not produce the original D-form pattas, their claimswere kept pending without paying the exgratia. Feelingaggrieved by this inaction of the respondents in payment ofexgratia, the petitioners filed the present Writ Petition.

No counter-affidavit is filed by the respondents.However, learned Assistant Government Pleader for LandAcquisition, representing the respondents, placed beforethe Court a copy of the letter, dated 23.11.2011, addressedby the Revenue Divisional Officer, Rajampet to the learnedGovernment Pleader for Land Acquisition, wherein it is interalia stated that the inspection notes of the then RevenueDivisional Officer shows that certain DKT pattadars are non-residents and that some of them have appeared andproduced D-form pattas and others have not evenappeared in the enquiry and that, as per the inspectionnotes, the DKT pattadars of the lands claimed in this WritPetition are included in the category of non-residentassignees, who have not produced the D-form pattas, etc.He has also shown the names of six persons as those inwhose favour DKT pattas were issued. He further referred tothe Tahsildar’s report, wherein payment of exgratia wasrecommended in favour of the petitioners, and opined thatthe Tahsildar failed to take into account the adangalextracts and recommended for payment of exgratia to the petitioners. The Revenue Divisional Officer found variationbetween the adangal extracts furnished along with theexgratia proposals and the schedule prepared by the thenRevenue Divisional Officer along with the inspection notesprepared in the year 2008. In view of these variations anddiscrepancies, the Revenue Divisional Officer opined that adetailed enquiry is necessary to find out as to who are theactual assignees and whether the provisions of the AndhraPradesh Assigned lands (Prohibition of Transfer) Act, 1977,are violated in respect of any of these assigned lands indispute. It is further stated that after holding such a detailedenquiry, further action will be taken for payment of exgratiato the original claimants.

In the light of the above facts and instructionsforwarded by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Rajampet, theWrit Petition is disposed of with the direction to the firstrespondent to hold a detailed enquiry as proposed by him inthe above-mentioned letter, dated 23.11.2011, addressed tothe learned Government Pleader for Land Acquisition. Heshall give notices to the petitioners and those whose namesappear in the revenue records such as adangal, etc. Aftergiving these persons an opportunity of being heard, he shallcomplete the enquiry, take appropriate decision andcommunicate the same to the petitioners and other personsinterested within a period of three months from the date ofreceipt of a copy of this order. Immediately after the decisionis taken, exgratia shall be paid to the deserving claimants.

As a sequel to disposal of the Writ Petition, W.P.M.P.No.38214 of 2011 filed by the petitioners forinterim relief is disposed of as infructuous.

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C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J

29[th] December 2011DR