APHC010055952026 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI [3311]

(Special Original Jurisdiction)

Friday, the Sixth day of February, Two Thousand and Twenty Six Present The Honourable Ms.Justice B.S.Bhanumathi Writ Petition No.3226 of 2026 Between:

1. Yatagiri Ravi, S/o.Muneaiah, aged about 43 years, R/o.H.No.9/299, Bodeddulapalli village, Chintakommadinne mandal , Kadapa District.

2. Yatagiri Muneiah, S/o.Basaiah, aged about 80 years, R/o. Bodeddulapalli village, Chinthakomma Dinne village, Y.S.R.Kadapa District.

3. Thati Makula Ramanjaneyulu, S/o. Pullaiah, aged about 55 years, R/o.

D.No.9/300, Bodeddulapalli Village, C.K.Dinne Mandal, Y.S.R.Kadapa District.

...Petitioners and

1. The State of Andhra Pradesh represented by its Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, Secretariat, Velagapudi, Amaravati, Guntur District.

2. The Principal Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Forest Department, Secretariat, Velagapudi, Amaravathi, Guntur District.

3. The District Collector, Y.S.R.Kadapa District, Kadapa.

4. The Revenue Divisional Officer, Kadapa Revenue Division, Kadapa. 5. The Tahsildar, C.K.Dinne Mandal, C.K.Dinne, Y.S.R.Kadapa District.

6. The Sub-Divisional Forest Officer, Forest Department, Kadapa.

7. The Forest Range Officer, Kadapa.

...Respondents Counsel for the petitioners:

1. Subba Rao Korrapati Counsel for the respondents:

1. Government Pleader for Revenue

2. Government Pleader for Forests The Court made the following Order:

This writ petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to issue a writ or order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in trying to cut down the mango garden and trying to dispossess the petitioners from the land in Sy.No 283 to an extent of Ac.3.00 cents of the each petitioner in Bodeddulapalli Village, C.K.Dinne Mandal, Y.S.R.Kadapa District, without considering the rights of the petitioners under the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (in short ‘the Act, 2006’) and without issuing any notice and following due process of law, as arbitrary, illegal in violation of Articles 14, 21 and 300A of the Constitution of India, and consequently direct the respondents to receive the applications from the petitioners to recognize their rights over the land in Sy.No.283 to an extent of Ac.3.00 cents to each of the petitioners under the provisions of the Act, 2006, and further direct the respondents not to interfere with the possession and enjoyment of the land in issue and to pass such other order, which this Court deems fit in the interest of justice.

02. The case of the petitioners is briefly as follows:-

The petitioners hail from Schedule Tribe community and are residing in an interior village near the forest. They are eking out their livelihood collecting forest products from the forest. The land in Sy.No.283 of Chinnakampalli village, C.K.Dinne mandal, Y.S.R.Kadapa District was classified as forest poramboke to an extent of Ac.126.00 cents. The village of Chinnakampalli is also located within Sy.No.283 only. The forest authorities fixed the kairons (forest boundary stones) after conducting survey. The petitioners are in possession and enjoyment of the land which is claimed by the forest department as forest poramboke. In fact, the land is outside the kairons fixed by the forest department. The petitioners have been in settled possession of Ac.3.00 cents each in Sy.No.283. The ancestors of the petitioners occupied the same and doing agricultural operations apart from procuring the forest produce from the forest. The petitioners have been requesting the revenue authorities to issue D.K.T. pattas as the land is situated outside the kairons. But, the authorities are not considering the request of the petitioners on the ground that the land was denoted in the records as forest poramboke. On the applications made by the petitioners to the respondent No.