Point of Law: according to Section 55 of the Panchayat Raj, communal property is also deemed to have been vested in the panchayat and the income derived there from can be utilized by the gram panchayat for the benefit of the villagers in common or the holders in common of village land generally or of lands of a particular description or of lands under a particular source of irrigation, shall vest in the gram panchayat and be administered by it for the benefit of the villagers or holders.

JUDGMENT :

M.Satyanarayana Murthy, J.

This writ petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to issue writ of mandamus, declaring the action of respondent Nos.2 and 3 in taking steps to assign the drainage bund passing in Survey No. 201 and 211 of Serepalli Village, Mogalthuru Mandal, West Godavari District, for house sites to the Weaker Sections, though the same is prohibited under B.S.O 15(4) of Andhra Pradesh Revenue Board Standing Orders (for short 'B.S.O') by depriving petitioners from using the said bund for their agricultural operations as highly illegal, arbitrary and contrary to law and consequently, direct the respondents not to assign the drainage bund situated in R.S.No.201 and 211 of Serepalem Village, Mogalthuru Mandal, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh.

2. The petitioners are the absolute owners of land in R.S.Nos.202, 203, 205, 209 and 210 of Serepalem Village, Mogalturu Mandal, West Godavari District. The said lands are Zyroyati lands. Some of the petitioners have purchased and some of them have inherited the said land. The said lands are situated by the side of channel (drain) which is running in Survey Nos.201 and 211 of Serepalem Village. The land in Survey Nos.201 and 211 was classified as irrigation poramboke. Between the lands of the petitioners and the said irrigation drainage channel, there is a bund with a width of 6 meters. The road was formed through the part of the said bund which is passing from Mutyalapalli Village to Mogalturu via Serepalem Village. The petitioners have been discharging used water from drainage to the agricultural fields and they have been using the said drainage channel bund for agricultural operations as thrashing floors, carts and cattle. Some of the petitioners have raised coconut and other trees and enjoying the usufruct of the said trees. While the matter stood thus, the third petitioner who is having land to an extent of Ac.1-80 cents in Sy.No.202/3B has occupied nearly an extent of Ac.0-60 cents in Survey No.201 which is classified as irrigation poramboke and applied for patta and she was granted patta for the extent of Ac.0-60 cents in R.S.No.201 and issued pattadar passbook in the year 2012. Smt. Kothapalli Venkata Lakshmi is having land in Sy.No.210/1 and she occupied Ac.0-30 cents in Sy.No.20-1, which is classified as irrigation land and the same was assessed for tax and she is paying tax for the extent of Ac.0-30 cents in Sy.No.201 of Serepalem Village and she died on 20.06.2014 and the same was inherited by her husband who is the 9th petitioner herein. The 11th petitioner herein has occupied Ac.0-16 cents in Sy.No.201 and he is paying tax for the said encroached land. The 12th petitioner has also occupied Ac.0-09 cents in R.S.No.201 and the tax is being collected from her and she is paying the tax. Thus, all the petitioners are enjoying the customary right over the irrigation canal bund for their agricultural operations, including the passage, both for farming and cattle. If, the land is assigned, it will cause not only inconvenience to these petitioners, but also hardship to the public who are passing on the road, laid on the bund by the government itself and that too, there is a clear prohibition in B.S.O 15(4) to assign such lands to the landless poor and contrary to the provisions of law. Therefore, the petitioners sought a direction to declare the action of the respondent Nos.2 and 3 in taking steps to assign the drainage bund passing in Survey No. 201 and 211 of Serepalli Village, Mogalthuru Mandal, West Godavari District for house sites to the Weaker Sections, as illegal and arbitrary and violative of B.S.O 15(4).

3. During hearing, learned counsel for the petitioners drawn attention of this Court to the adangals of the villages to show that the land in different survey numbers is classified as irrigation bodhe and irrigation poramboke, road and that the petitioners are in possession and enjoyment of the land, paying the land revenue to