( 1 ) 39 residents of Thimmapur village of Damarcharla Mandal, Nalgonda District have filed this common and joint writ petition questioning the proceedings of the first respondent dated 30-9-1994, forming a separate Gram Panchayat at Narsapur comprising of Narsapur and Thimmapur villages.

( 2 ) THE petition averments disclose that Thimmapur village is more than 8 kms away from Kalleppally village. Kallepally was the head-quarter of the Gram Panchayat comprising Kallepally village as well as Thimmapur and Narsapur villages. Since the residents of Thimmapur village as well as Narsapur village experienced certain difficulties, they made representations to the second respondent - Extension Officer (Panchayat) requesting the latter to recommend to the first respondent to bifurcate Thimmapur and Narsapur villages from the jurisdiction of Kallepally Gram Panchayat and to form two separate Gram Panchayats in respect of Thimmapur village and Narsapur village. It is alsoaverred that the local Member of Legislative Assembly also recommended to the second respondent fully endorsing the grievance made out by the villagers of Thimmapur and Narsapur and requesting the second respondent to take necessary steps to bifurcate the said two villages from the territorial jurisdiction of Kallepally Gram Panchayat. These background facts led the second respondent to address two separate letters on 1-9-1992 to the first respondent-District Collector recommending to the latter that the said two villages be deleted from the territorial jurisdiction of Kallepally Gram Panchayat and two separate Gram Panchayats be formed for the convenience of the residents of the said two villages. It is alleged that the first respondent-District Collector did not take any action on the recommendation made by the second respondent till 1994.

( 3 ) OBVIOUSLY acting under the provisions of Section 3 (2) of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, for short the Act , the District Collector issued a show-causenoticedated 30-9-1994 to the Pcrson-in-charge of Kallepally Gram Panchayat. In the notice it was proposed to delete Thimmapur and Narsapur villages from the territorial jurisdiction of Kallepally Gram Panchayat and to form a separate Gram Panchayat for those two villages. It is alleged and it isnot disputed that the Person-in-charge of Kallepally Gram Panchayat did not submit any reply to the show-cause notice. Since there was no objection of any sort from the Kallepally Gram Panchayat to the proposal made in the show-cause notice, the District Collector issued the impugned notification, referred to above, on 30-9-1994.

( 4 ) THE learned Counsel appearing for the petitioners firstly contended that the impugned action suffers from an error apparent on the face of the record, inasmuch as the district Collector proceeded on the assumption that the request from the villagers was to form only one Gram Panchayat in respect of Thimmapur and Narasapur villages. The learned Counsel would maintain that it is a clear case of non-application of mind. Referring to the two separate letters sent by the second respondent on 1-9-1992 to. the District Collector, the learned Counsel would point out that the residents of both the villages made the grievance and they wanted the authorities to form two separate Gram Panchayats in respect of their villages. He would also point out that even the local Member of Legislative Assembly made requests to the authorities to form two separate Gram Pacnahayts for those two villages. The learned Counsel secondly contended that the action is otherwise bad in law, inamuch as the impugned notification is issued in utter violation of Rules 3 and 9 of the Andhra Pradesh Gram Panchayats (Declaration of Villages) Rules, 1994, for short the Rules . Referring to the provisions of Rule 3 of the Rules, the learned Counsel submitted that the population of Thimmapur village is more than 1,400 and income is also more than Rs. 4,000-00 even accordi