CH NARASIMHA RAO Vs. COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The forty three petitioners herein, claiming themselves to be small agriculturists, each one of them owning less than Acs.2.5, are residents of Machilipatnam. By this writ petition, they are seeking a writ of mandamus or any appropriate writ, order, or direction, declaring the action of the first respondent, the Commissioner of Fisheries, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, in excluding agriculturists from the grant of Govt. Land on lease for the purpose of prawn culture issuing Notification No.21986/P2/88, dated 7-9-88 as illegal and unconstitutional, being violative of Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India.

(2.) By the impugned notification issued by the first respondent, Govt., invited applications from three categories of persons/organisations for considering allotment of Govt. lands on lease for brackish water shrimp farming on certain conditions. The three categories of persons/organisations eligible to apply are: (1) Fishermen Co-operative Societies: (2) Self employed technocrats: and (3) progressive entrepreneurs. According to the said notification, the expression "fishermen Co-operative Society" means and includes:

(3.) The organisations mentioned in the first category are eligible up to a maximum of two hectares per member. Persons mentioned in the second category will be eligible up to a maximum of four hectares each and those covered by the third category would be eligible up to a maximum of one hundred heciares. An area larger than one hundred hectares would be considered on the merits of each case.