ANDHRA PRADESH STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD ENGINEERS CO OP HOUSING SOCIETY LIMITED Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Though in the Writ Petition the petitioner has sought for a direction to the respondent to grant exemption under the provisions of A P Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act in respect of the lands in S. Nos 821, 825, 826, 827 828, 646 and 647 of Kukatpally village Balanagar Mandal R R District in terms of GO Ms No. 136 Revenue (Urban Ceilings) Department dt. 28-1-81 the limited relief sought for at the time of hearing of Writ Petition is to direct the respondent to dispose of the application for exemption in accordance with the law expeditiously. I ordered notice before admission on 12 2-92. On 26-2-92 the learned Government Pleader for Revenue requested two weeks time for filing counter. When the case has come up for orders today the learned Government Pleader has stated that the application of the petitioner is no doubt pending but on account of the pendency of the proposal to frame certain comprehensive guidelines in the matter of disposal of applications of this nature the Government is not in a position to immediately dispose of the application. It is also stated that non disposal of the application earlier was on account of the pendency of the Writ Petition No. 5958/1983 and an appeal filed in the Supreme Court against the said judgment.

(2.) The application was filed in the year 1982. The litigation pending in this Court and the Supreme Court had come lo an end long back. The applications u/sec. 20 which have apparently been made within the framework of the G O granting exemption in favour of Housing Co-operative Societies cannot be kept indefinitely pending. The Government has a statutory duty to dispose of such applications within a reasonable time. Even if the Government has to take a policy decision in regard to the jssuance of revised guidelines it should not have taken such a long time. Such an inordinate delay would frustrate the very purpose for which the provision has been made for grant of exemption in deserving and appropriate cases and would also tend to create uncertainty in the minds of the public which is hardly conducive to public interest. Incidentally the surplus land would get locked up in litigation. The need to expeditiously dispose of the applications under Section 20 need not be over emphasised.

(3.) I would therefore direct that the application filed by the petitioner under Section 20 (1) shall be disposed of within a period of four months from the date of receipt of the order and appropriate orders be passed and communicated to the petitioner. It is open to the petitioner to make any further representation to the Government so that the same can be taken into account by the Government before the disposal of the application for exemption. The Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of. No costs. Government Pleader's fee is Rs 200/-.