THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.V. SESHA SAI WRIT PETITION No.23101 of 2010 Between:
1. K. Bhavani Singh and others PETITIONERS AND
1. State of A.P. rep. by its Secretary Revenue Department Secretariat, Hyderabad, and others.
RESPONDENTS ORDER:
This writ petition is, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, challenges the Gazette Notification No.372 dated 7.08.1998 issued under Section 3(1) of the A.P. Slum Improvement (Acquisition of Land), Act, 1956 (hereinafter called ‘the Act’), as arbitrary and illegal.
2. According to the petitioners, Late Maneram was the pattedar and possessor of the land admeasuring Ac.18.33 guntas in Sy.No.55 of Ramdevguda Village, Golconda Mandal, Hyderabad, and the petitioners are the legal representatives of Late Maneram. According to them, out of the said land, an extent of Ac.16.20 guntas was acquired under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India for formation of Army Artillery Centre and paid compensation and after the said acquisition, they have been left with the balance extent of Ac.2.13 in Sy.No.55/1, which corresponds to TS.No.16/2 in Ward 14, Block-J of Ramdevguda, Golconda Mandal. Thereafter, Ac.1.10 guntas was occupied by the Electricity Department from the said balance extent of Ac.2.13 guntas and formed Transformer Junction for supply of power to different Mandals in Ranga Reddy District. It is the further case of the petitioners that after a part of the same is affected in formation of road, they are now left with an extent of 4000 sq. yards approximately, and in the remaining portion, some of the petitioners have constructed their own houses and shops and which were assessed by the 2nd respondent-Hyderabad Municipal Corporation by assigning house numbers, and they are paying property tax.
3. The 1st respondent-Government of A.P., issued a notification bearing No.372, dated 07.08.1998 in the A.P. Gazette under Section 3(1) of the Act, notifying the land of the petitioners to an extent of 3037 sq. meters as slum area and the said notification was followed by another Gazette notification bearing No.492, dated 18.11.1998 under Section 3(2) of the Act. Questioning the validity of the said notification, the petitioners earlier filed W.P.Nos.2130 and 6253 of 1999 before this Court and this Court by way of a common order dated 28.10.2002 disposed of the said writ petitions and the penultimate paragraph of the said order reads as under.
“In the above circumstances final notification issued by the respondent-authorities is clearly without serving notice in Form-II as contemplated under the provisions of the Act. As the same would violate the principles of natural justice, the impugned action is liable to be set aside. Accordingly, the final notification in Form-III issued on 18.11.1998 is set aside and further the petitioners are directed to file their objections before the concerned respondent-authorities within a period of three weeks from today. On receipt of the said objections, the respondent-authorities are directed to consider those objections and pass appropriate orders. If for any reason, the petitioners fail to file their objections within the stipulated period, it is open to the respondent-authorities to proceed with the finalisation of the proceedings.”
4. According to the petitioners they have submitted objections dated 18.11.2002 in pursuance of the said order and the same are pending as on today.
5. It is the contention of the 7th respondent that since no orders have been passed on the said objections, the present writ petition, questioning the notification issued under Section 3(1) of the Act dated 07.08.1998 is not maintainable. No counter has so far been filed by respondents 1 to 6 in the writ petition, even though this writ petition was filed as long back as on 14.09.2010.
6. In view of the above narration and as no final decision has so far been taken by the respondent-authorities in pursuance of the submission of objections by the petitioners, this writ petition is disposed of, directing the official respondents to consider the objections submitted by the petitioners and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law, after giving notice and opportunity of being heard to all the stake holders including the petitioners and the unofficial respondent herein, as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. It is also made clear that the interim order granted on 20.09.2010 shall continue to operate pending the said exercise. No order as to costs.
JUSTICE A.V. SESHA SAI.
28th April, 2014 Js.