VADIYALA PRABHAKAR RAO Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) On 6/2/1950, a Gazette Notification under Sec. 7(1) of the Hyderabad Forest Act, 1326 Fasli[ Corresponds to 1916 AD.], was issued proposing to include land in an extent of 787 Acres in Survey No. 81 of Kalvalanagaram Village as a reserve forest. The Joint Collector, Khammam, vide Order dtd. 19/5/2003, rejected the Appellants ' claim to exclude the land in Survey No. 81, in an extent of 600 Acres, Kalvalanagaram Village, Pinapaka Mandal, Khammam District ("Subject Matter"), from the proposed declaration as forest land/reserve forest. The Appellants questioned the Order dtd. 19/5/2003 in Writ Petition No. 19107 of 2003 in the then High Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh, at Hyderabad. The Appellants prayed for the following reliefs:

(3.) In a nutshell, the Appellants prayed for setting aside the Order dtd. 19/5/2003 under Ss. 10 and 11 of the Hyderabad Forest Act, 1355F, and accept the claims of Appellants for the Subject Matter of Appeal and exclude the Subject Matter in the proposed Notification as Forest Land/Reserve Forest. On 27/3/2012, Writ Petition No. 19107 of 2003 was allowed, and the order dtd. 19/5/2003 in Case Number B2-6359/87 of the Joint Collector, Khammam, was set aside, and it was declared that the proceedings relating to the reservation of the Subject Matter were ultra vires and non est in law. The State filed Writ Appeal No. 910 of 2012, and the High Court for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad, through the impugned Judgment, allowed the Writ Appeal. Hence, the Civil Appeal at the instance of the Claimants.