THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY Writ Petition Nos.38893, 38896, 38903, 38906 & 38915 of 2014 Between:
Jangala Vinay Kumar And Dated 18th December, 2014 …Petitioner (W.P.No.38893 of 2014) The State of Telangana, rep.by its Principal Secretary, Forest Department, Telangana Secretariat, Hyderabad and others …Respondents (W.P.No.38893 of 2014) Counsel for the petitioner: Sri Hari Sreedhar (W.P.No.38893 of 2014) Counsel for the respondents: GP for Forests (TS) (W.P.No.38893 of 2014) The Court made the following:
COMMON ORDER:
The petitioners in all these writ petitions share common grievance, namely, the subordinates of respondent Nos.3 and 4 have been unduly interfering with their possession of the properties admeasuring Acs.23.00 situated in Survey No.Bila (nil) of Mylaram Village, Kothaguda Mandal, Warangal District (for short ‘the subject land’).
The petitioners pleaded that the subject land belongs to the Government, that the same is in their occupation for a long time, that in the oral partition that has taken place about 26 years back, they were allotted certain extents of the subject land and that since then, they have been in possession and enjoyment of the same. The petitioners have relied upon the copies of the pahanies for the years 2001-02 to 2010-11 in support of their plea of possession.
The petitioners alleged that on 10.11.2014, a forest guard, who is the subordinate of respondent No.4, came to the subject land and served a copy of notice, dated 30.10.2014, issued by respondent No.4, which was originally addressed to a person, by name Raju, and the same was struck out and the name of Jangala @ Mallela Viswanadham, petitioner in W.P.No.38903 of 2014, was substituted. That in the said notice, he was called upon to produce valid documents, if any, within seven days from the date of receipt of the notice, failing which, criminal action would be taken under Section 20(1) (c) (ii), (iii) & (iv) of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967 (for short ‘the Forest Act’), under Sections 27, 29 and 51 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and under Sections 2 and 3 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
The petitioners further averred that on 05.12.2014, respondent No.4 along with his subordinates again came to the subject land and forcibly put markings on some portion of the subject land under the threat of arrest and put a sign board stating that the land belongs to forest department. That they threatened the petitioners to vacate the subject land after harvesting the paddy crop raised by them. Feeling aggrieved by this action, the petitioners filed this writ petition.
When this writ petition came up in the pre lunch session, this Court has passed over the matter to enable the learned Government Pleader for Forests (TS) to get instructions as to whether any order has been passed by respondent No.4 under Section 20(3) of the Forest Act. The learned Government Pleader on instructions submitted that no such order has been passed so far.
The photographs filed by the petitioners show that over a part of the subject land, standing crop is in existence and the forest officials in uniform entering the subject land were seen; and a person in mufti is seen breaking coconut. The learned Government Pleader has identified him as respondent No.4.
Section 20 of the Forest Act prescribed penalties for trespass or damage in reserved forest and acts prohibited in such forests. Under sub-section (3) thereof, where a person contravenes the provisions of sub-clause (ii) or sub-clause (vii) of clause (c) of sub-section (1), a forest officer not below the rank of a Ranger, a police officer not below the rank of a Sub-Inspector; or a revenue officer not below the rank of a Deputy Tahsildar, may evict the person from the forest or the land, pertaining to which the contravention has taken place and remove any building or other construction or anything grown or deposited on it, provided that before taking any action under this sub-section, the officer concerned shall give an opportunity to the person likely to be affected to make any representation, against the action proposed.
From the pleadings of the parties, it could be seen that notice was given only to the petitioner in W.P.No.38903 of 2014. No such notices have been given to other petitioners. Unless respondent No.4 follows the procedure prescribed under Section 20(3) of the Act, he has no power or authority to take possession of the subject land which is admittedly in occupation of the petitioners.
As this procedure is not followed, respondent No.4 is directed to issue fresh notice to the petitioner in W.P.No.38903 of 2014 and similar notices to the petitioners in other writ petitions and within two weeks from the date of receipt of such notices, the petitioners shall file their objections to the same. Thereafter, respondent No.4 shall hold personal enquiry after notice to the petitioners and pass an appropriate order under sub-section (3) of Section 20 of the Forest Act. Till this process is completed, the respondents shall not interfere with the possession of the petitioners over the subject land.
Subject to the above directions, the writ petitions are disposed of.
As a sequel to disposal of the writ petitions, pending interlocutory applications shall stand disposed of as infructuous.
C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 18th December, 2014
VGB