ORDER:

1. The petitioners are residents of Ananthavaram Village, Tangutur Mandal, Prakasam District. They have approached this Court by way of the present writ petition being aggrieved by the construction of a Grama Sachivalayam building in Sy.No.129 & 129-B of the said village.

2. It is the case of the petitioners that a Gram Panchayat office of this village had been established in the Dalitwada about 60 years back. Thereafter, the Government had recently issued G.O.Ms.No.110 dated 19.07.2019, which stipulated the necessity of having Village Secretariat buildings at every Gram Panchayat. On account of this G.O., a proposal was mooted for construction of a Gram Sachivalayam building. Initially, it was understood that this building would be constructed in the same locality where the Gram Panchayat office is located. The petitioners and other villagers are also said to have purchased about Ac.0.07 cents of land in Sy.No.133 of the village for construction of a Grama Sachivalayam building. However, the authorities without conducting any Gramasabha for taking a decision on this issue and without considering any of the objections raised by the petitioners and other villagers, had decided to construct a Grama Sachivalayam building in Sy.No.129 & 129-B after having obtained Ac.0.40 cents of land in that survey number from another village, by way of a gift deed. The petitioners oppose the construction of the Grama Sachivalayam in the new location.

3. Sri Jada Sravan Kumar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners would submit that the proposed location of the Grama Sachivalayam building was never under consideration initially. It was always understood by the villagers that a new building would be constructed close to the existing Gram Panchayat office. On that basis, the villagers had also donated Ac.0.07 cents of land for the Grama Sachivalayam building. When the new location was proposed, the petitioners and other villagers objected to the said location and had given objections. These objections were not considered while deciding the new location.

4. Sri Jada Sravan Kumar further contends that the new location is far away from the location of the present Gram Panchayat office and this location has been chosen, due to the interference of the local politicians, who sought to take away the Grama Sachivalayam building from the present location to meet their personal requirements. He submits that the residents of the Dalitwada would find it extremely difficult to obtain services from the new Grama Sachivalayam office as it is quite far away. He further submits that the new location is prone to flooding during the rainy season and none of the residents of the village would be able to obtain any service from the Grama Sachivalayam during the rainy season as it would be flooded with rain water.

5. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the 8th respondent. It is the case of the 8th respondent that the 8th respondent- Gram Panchayat consists of five hamlets, viz., Ananthavaram, Tallapalem, Pasukudum, Kessupalem and Thetupuram. It also states that the Village Secretariat would have to serve Velagapudi Gram Panchayat also. This is because, a Grama Sachivalayam would be constructed to serve at least 2000 people and neither of these Gram Panchayats have a population of more than 2000 people. After the proposal for construction of a Grama Sachivalayam had been raised, one Sri Alluri Venkata Satya Narayana Raju had come forward and donated Ac.0.40 cents of land in Sy.No.129 for construction of the Village Secretary. Thereupon, a notice dated 29.11.2021 was published at the office of the Grama Sachivalayam, Tahsildar office and MDO Office and at conspicuous places, calling for objections, if any, from the villagers for the new location. Since no objections were received, a Grama sabha was also conducted on 05.12.2021. As no objections were raised by any of the villagers in this Gramasabha and the offer made by Sri Alluri Venkata Satya N