BUCHANNA P Vs. MANDAL REVENUE OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in the instant writ petition prays for issuance of an appropriate writ particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the proceedings of the first respondent in Roc. HDT/862/99, dated 8-2-2000 as illegal, without jurisdiction and contrary to the mandatory provisions of Act 7 of 1996.

(2.) Before adverting to the question that falls for consideration, it may be necessary to briefly notice the facts: The petitioner claims to be the owner of an extent of Ac.5,00 of land in Survey No.74/3 of Pothapolu Revenue Village. It is stated that there is a bore-well dug by the petitioner in the said land in the year 1991 for the purpose of cultivation of the land. In the month of March, 1998 the Government got a bore-well sunk nearby the agricultural lands of the petitioner which has resulted in depletion of water source in the petitioner's bore-well. Therefore, the petitioner was constrained to dig another bore-well in his land at a distance of 15 feet from his first bore-well. We are not concerned for the present with other details. The petitioner claims to have made huge investments for the electrification, water pipeline connection etc., and converted an extent of Ac.2-00 into wet land.

(3.) The second respondent herein appears to have made a representation to the first respondent herein stating that the petitioner herein dug an irrigation bore-well near Sanitorium local authority area for irrigation purpose and pumping the water with the help of electric motor and due to heavy pumping the ground water level in the open well belonging to Arogyavaram Medical Centre is very much reduced resulting in acute shortage of water to the hospital. The petitioner herein was put on notice, to which a representation was submitted by the petitioner. The petitioner appeared before the Mandal Revenue Officer. The Mandal Revenue Officer inspected both the bore-wells belonging to the petitioner and open well belonging to Arogyavaram Medical Centre and noticed that the water level in the open well was very much depleted. The Mandal Revenue Officer noticed that there is acute drinking water problem in the area and accordingly concluded that priority has to be given to the drinking water. The Mandal Revenue Officer came to the conclusion that the petitioner herein drilled the bore-well within a distance of 350 feet from the existing open well, which is contrary to the mandatory provisions of Section 3(1) of Andhra Pradesh Ground Water (Regulation for Drinking Water Purposes) Act, 1996 (for short 'the Act'). The Mandal Revenue Officer further found that the petitioner herein had not obtained any prior permission from the Ground Water Department before digging the bore-well as is required under the provisions of the Act. In the circumstances, the Mandal Revenue Officer came to the conclusion that it is not desirable to keep the bore-well as usual and accordingly ordered the same to be seized with immediate effect. The decision appears to have been taken by the Mandal Revenue Officer to solve the drinking water problem prevailing in the village.