Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : B.SUDERSHAN REDDY, K.C.BHANU
K.Peda Venkataiah - Appellant
Versus
Government Of A.P. - Respondent
W.A.No.391/03
Decided On : 12-08-03
Advocates Appeared :
Mr.N.Surender Rao
owners.
Constitution of India, Art.226 - Land owners availing alternative remedy available to them in law by seeking reference to civil Court u/Sec18 of Act - Existence of a statutory remedy does not affect jurisdiction of High Court to issue a writ - Award passed by LAO is ex facie illegal and suffers from errors apparent on face of record - Appeal, allowed.
( 1 ) THE unsuccessful petitioners in W. P. No. 2128 of 2003 are the appellants in this writ appeal. The learned Single Judge dismissed the said writ petition filed by them questioning the award passed by the third respondent-Revenue Divisional Officer, warangal under the provisions of the Land acquisition Act, 1894 (for short the Act ).
( 2 ) IN order to appreciate whether the order under appeal suffers from any infirmities requiring our interference, a few relevant facts leading to filing of this writ appeal may have to be noticed:
( 3 ) THE appellants herein are the true and absolute owners of the land admeasuring ac. 1-17 guntas in Survey No. 146 of Somidi village, Hanamkonda Mandal, Warangal district. In the revision of survey of the village, new survey numbers 154 and 155 were assigned to old Survey No. 146.
( 4 ) BE it as it may, the second respondent-Joint Collector submitted acquisition proposals to the first respondent-Government of Andhra Pradesh for acquisition of lands in various survey numbers including Survey Nos. 154 and 155 of Somidi Village for construction of Food corporation of India godowns. Draft notification under Section 4 (1) of the Act was issued on 1-4-1982 seeking to acquire the lands situated in various survey numbers of somidi Village. However, the land in Survey no. 154 admeasuring Ac. 1-17 guntas was not included in the said notification. On verification, it was found that during the revision of survey, the land in Survey no. 154 was wrongly classified as Billa dhakhala (Chervu Shikam ). On 2-6-1983, the first respondent-Government had taken possession of the said land from the appellants and delivered the same to the second responden-Joint Collector. The appellants having realised that on account of mistake during the revision of survey, the land was classified as Government land, preferred an appeal under Section 87 of the andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Land revenue Act before the District Revenue officer, Warangal for rectification of survey error. The said appeal was allowed by order dated 31 -12-1988 upholding the claim of the appellants and accordingly orders were issued to rectify the mistake and change the classification from Billa Dhakhala (Cheruvu shikam) to Ryotwari patta of land to an extent of Ac. 1-17 guntas. After disposal of the appeal, several representations were made by the appellants for initiating proceedings under the provisions of the Act and for payment of compensation. There has been no response from the respondents.
( 5 ) THE appellants, aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the respondents in initiating land acquisition proceedings, filed w. P. No. 10336 of 1993 in this Court. The said writ petition was allowed by this Court vide order dated 14/07/1999 directing the respondents to take immediate steps to acquire the lands of the appellants in Survey no. 154/2 of Somidi Village, Warangal district admeasuring Ac. 1-17 guntas and conclude the proceedings, including payment of compensation to the appellants, within a period of four months from the date of receipt of a copy of the said order.
( 6 ) THEREAFTER, the 5th respondent-Food corporation of India filed a requisition for acquisition of the said land in Survey no. 154/2 admeasuring Ac. 1-17 guntas duly informing that the advance possession of the land under acquisition has been taken over by them on 2-6-1983. The draft notification/ draft declaration proposals under Secs. 4 (1) and 6 of the Act were submitted to the collector, Warangal on 21-10-1999 dispensing with the enquiry under Sec. 5-A of the Act invoking the urgency clause in view of the orders passed by this Court. The draft notification was published in the gazette dated 10-7-2000 followed by the draft declaration under Section 6 of the Act dated 2-8-2000. The Land Acquisition officer passed award on 24-12-2002 and the notice under Section 12 (2) was served on the appellants on the same day. The appellants received the compensation
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