IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT HYDERABAD FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AND THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND FOURTEEN Present HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO WRIT PETITION No.39555 of 2014 Between:
Komaram Sreeramulu, S/o. Potturaju, Aged 38 years (ST), R/o. Reddyganapavaram (V), Buttaigudem (M), West Godavari District & 7 others.
.. Petitioners AND The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, Secretariat Buildings, Secretariat, Hyderabad & 4 others ..
Respondents The Court made the following:
HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO WRIT PETITION No.39555 of 2014 ORDER:
Notification under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (for short, ‘the Act’) was issued for acquiring the land to an extent of Ac. 176.88 cents in Survey Nos.288/2, 1/2 etc., of Reddyganapavaram Village, Buttaigudem Mandal, West Godavari District. Draft Declaration under Section 6 of the Act was issued. As prescribed in the Act, one of the modes of publication of Section 6 declaration is locality publication. By virtue of the impugned letter bearing Ref.No.B1/229/2013, dated 15.02.2014, the Special Collector (Land Acquisition), Indira Sagar Project, Rajahmundry, East Godavari District (3rd respondent) requested the Land Acquisition Officer & Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition), RMC Unit-II, Eluru, West Godavari District (4th respondent) to cause publication of draft declaration in locality. At this stage, this writ petition is instituted.
2. The grievance of the petitioners is that they are the local tribals. The land to an extent of Ac. 26.00 cents in Survey No.288/2 of Reddyganapavaram Village, Buttaigudem Mandal, West Godavari District, which is part of the acquisition now initiated is illegally enjoyed by non-tribals, whereas according to Reg.1/70, the tribals alone are entitled to enjoy. Having come to know that illegally the non-tribals are enjoying the property and that there is a possibility of non-tribals claiming compensation as and when the land acquisition proceedings are concluded, complaints are lodged by the petitioners on 10.09.2014 in the Court of Special Deputy Collector (Tribal Welfare), K.R. Puram. On registering the complaints, notices were ordered on the non-tribals, who are in possession and enjoyment of the property. The issue is pending at the stage of conducting an enquiry.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioners contends that at this stage, if the land acquisition proceedings are about to be concluded even before the enquiry by the Special Deputy Collector are concluded, grave prejudice would be caused to the local tribals and the amount of compensation payable on the said extent of land would be paid to the non-tribals, who are not entitled to receive.
4. As seen from the material enclosed to the writ affidavit, the impugned letter, dated 15.02.2014, is only an internal correspondence from the Office of the Special Collector (Land Acquisition), Indira Sagar Project, Rajahmundry (3rd respondent) to the Land Acquisition Officer & Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition), RMC Unit-II, Eluru (4th respondent) for the purpose of locality publication. Per se, this does not give a cause of action. However, in view of the fact that the petitioners are the tribals and that they have already ventilated their grievance in the Court of Special Deputy Collector (Tribal Welfare), K.R. Puram, on the entitlement of the non-tribals to be in possession and enjoyment and the possibility of future claim for compensation, in the interest of justice the petitioners are permitted to file an application before the Land Acquisition Officer and Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition), RMC Unit-II, Eluru, West Godavari District (4th respondent) seeking to permit them to participate in the award enquiry. After considering the rival claims on the issue, the Land Acquisition Officer shall decide the entitlement of compensation or the necessity to refer to the agent under Section 30 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. If award is already passed and compensation is not released, the petitioners are given liberty to ventilate their grievance before the competent authority.
5. With the above observations, the Writ Petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this writ petition shall stand closed.
P.NAVEEN RAO, J Date: 24th December, 2014 KL HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO WRIT PETITION No.39555 of 2014 Date: 24th December, 2014 KL