Public interest litigation should be used responsibly, and courts should exercise caution in entertaining such petitions to prevent the misuse of the legal process.

ORDER :

C. Praveen Kumar, J.

1. Since, the Writ Petitioner uploaded the Writ Petition twice, the Office inadvertently downloaded and numbered them separately as W.P. (PIL) 245 of 2020 and W.P. (PIL) 246 of 2020. Therefore, W.P. (PIL) 245 of 2020 is taken on record to adjudicate the matter.

2. The Writ Petitioner, in this present Public Interest Litigation, seeks issuance of Mandamus to direct the Respondents to disburse the sanctioned amount pursuant to G.O.Rt. No. 323, dated 24.06.2020, and G.O.Rt. No. 465, dated 08.09.2020, to the PAFs/PDFs of Thallaproddatur Village, under Gandikota Reservoir Project without insisting on prior demolition of their houses, granting minimum six months time for their rehabilitation/resettlement; and declare the 'forced evacuation' by the Respondents by impounding more than 12 TMCs water in Gandikota Reservoir, as illegal arbitrary and unconstitutional.

3. The averments in the affidavit, filed in support of the Writ Petition, show that, the Petitioner is one of the PAFs/PDFs of Thallaproddatur Village, Kondapuram Mandal, YSR Kadapa District, under Gandikota Reservoir Project. The Government of Andhra Pradesh issued District Gazette (extraordinary) Notification vide Reference No. C/R&R/01/2019, dated 26.08.2019, and the name of the Petitioner appeared at Sl. No. 1622 and SES 382 along with 5000 similar others.

4. In the year 2007, the Government of Andhra Pradesh proposed construction of Gandikota Reservoir, which is a part of Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi, with an estimated storage of flood water to an extent of 26.85 T.M.C., from Krishna River through foreshore area of Srisailam Reservoir, so as to provide irrigation and drinking water facilities to the people in drought hit Kadapa and Chittoor districts.

5. In order to implement the Gandikota Reservoir Phase-II and III, the Government of Andhra Pradesh issued G.O.Rt. No. 323, dated 24.06.2020, for release of an amount of Rs. 522.85 Crores to the effected 7 villages i.e., Thallaproddatur, Chamarlu, Yerragudi, P. Ananthapuram, Eturu, Regadipalli and K. Sugumanchipilli. The II and III Phase of project are part and parcel of Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi Phase-I for supply of drinking and irrigation water to the Rayalaseema region.

6. Consequently, the Government of Andhra Pradesh issued G.O.Rt. No. 465, dated 08.09.2020, seeking acquisition of land to an extent of Ac. 99.80 cents, situated in Sy. Nos. 5/1, 6, 7, 9/2 etc. of Jogapuram Village of Kondapuram Mandal, for establishment of R&R centre to the displaced families of Thallaproddatur village, under the submergence of Gandikota Reservoir of Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi Phase-I of package-I.

7. It is averred that, the District administration of Kadapa District, in a high-handed manner are insisting on prior demolition of the houses before disbursement of money to PAFs/PDFs/IDPs. The agitation by the affected villagers in not issuing R&R package lead to filing of a Writ Petition (PIL) No. 183 of 2020. In the said Writ Petition, interim order came to be passed, stating that 'pendency of this writ petition will not prevent the respondents in proceeding with disbursement of the sanctioned amount. However, at the same time, respondents were directed to maintain status quo'.

8. It is further averred that, subsequent to the interim orders passed in Writ Petition (PIL) No. 183 of 2020, the District administration adopted a deceitful way of enforcing evacuation of the oustees by impounding of more than 12 TMCs water, leading to submergence of villages, which act is more inhumane than direct demolition, and the same is in violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of Constitution of India. Having regard to the above, various reliefs are sought in the Writ Petition, which is filed in the form of Public Interest Litigation.

9. A Counter came to be filed on behalf of 2nd and 5th Respondents, denying the averments made in the affidavit, filed in support of Writ Petition, except those that are specifically admitted there