Government actions for land acquisition must comply with due process; without a valid notification, interference with private land holdings is unlawful.

ORDER:

ANIL KUMAR JUKANTI, J.

This Writ Petition is filed seeking the following prayer:

“…to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction, particularly one in the nature of Mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents 2 to 4 herein in trying to interfere with possession and enjoyment of Ac.2.02 gts of land in S.No.268/60 belonging to the 1^st petitioner herein, Ac.1.15 gts of land in S.No.268/66 belonging to the 2^nd petitioner herein and Ac.1.26 gts of land belonging to the 3^rd petitioner herein situate at Cheriyal Village, Sangareddy Mandal, Medak district for the purpose of construction of Government Godowns in the said lands as illegal, arbitrary, unreasonable, without authority of law, violative of principles of natural justice, and also violative of the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and also violative of Articles 14, 21 and 300-A of the Constitution of India and issue a consequential direction to the respondents herein not to interfere with our possession and enjoyment of our above said lands and pass such other order or orders…”

2. Heard Mr. M.Kiran Reddy, learned counsel for petitioners and Ms. Dara Haritha Kiran, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for respondents.

3. The case of petitioners is that respondent No.4 (Tahsildar, Sangareddy, Medak District) vide proceedings No.A5/4423/82 dated 12.04.1983, assigned land to an extent of Acs.44.00 guntas in Sy.No.268 of Cheriyal Village, Sangareddy Mandal, Medak District, to 22 Ex-Servicemen (land to an extent of Acs.2.00 guntas each), in terms of G.O.Ms.No.743 (Rev.) dated 30.04.1963. That Government vide G.O.Ms.No.1117 dated 11.11.1993 directed that Ex-Servicemen were free to sell their assigned lands after a period of 10 years (Ex.P10).

4. It is the case of petitioner No.1 that he purchased land admeasuring Acs.2.00 guntas in Sy.No.268/60 from one B.Sesha Reddy (Ex-Servicemen), vide registered sale deed dated 15.04.1996 and was issued pattadar passbooks and title deeds and that his name was entered in the revenue records. It is case of petitioner No.2 that he purchased land admeasuring Acs.1.15 guntas in Sy.No.268/66 from one Y.Ramakrishna (Ex- Servicemen), vide registered sale deed dated 19.02.1996, that pattadar passbooks and title deeds were issued and his name was entered in the revenue records. It is the case of petitioner No.3 that he purchased land admeasuring Acs.1.26 guntas in Sy.No.268/63 from one Fareed Khan (Ex-Servicemen), vide registered sale deed dated 24.02.1996, that he was issued pattadar passbooks and title deeds and his name was entered in the revenue records. Learned counsel for petitioners invited the attention of this Court to pattadar passbooks issued to petitioners (Exs.P2 to P6) and pahanies issued in November, 2016 (Exs.P7 to P9).

5. Learned counsel for petitioners submitted that respondents are trying to interfere with the peaceful possession of lands of petitioners on the ground that the said parcel of land is required for construction of Government godowns. It is further submitted that petitioners made a representation on 11.02.2016 (Ex.P11) to stop further work for construction of godowns on their lands and that the said representation is still pending consideration. It is also submitted that no prior show cause notice has been issued and that respondents cannot enter into the lands of petitioners, without following due process of law nor acquiring the lands under The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (for short ‘the Act, 2013’). It is lastly submitted that interference with the