B DANIEL Vs. VISAKHAPATNAM MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners seek a Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents in not considering their cases for allotment of house sites in Block No.1, TS.No.5, comprised in an extent of Ac.1-32 cents at Siddartha Nagar Slum of Visakhapatnam, as illegal arbitrary and unconstitutional.

(2.) The brief facts relating to the claim of the petitioners are as under:- The land in TS.No,5 admeasuring Ac.9-54 cents was held initially by one Sri M.T.Raju. Out of this, an extent of Ac.2-54 cents is said to have been occupied by 210 slum dwellers. Proceedings to acquire the land in TS.No.5 were initiated under the Land Acquisition Act in the year 1979. They could not, however, materialize. Thereafter, the owner of the land sold it to M/s.Vijaya Cooperative House Building Society (for short the Society).

(3.) Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, the 1st respondent, initiated proceedings under the A.P. Slum Improvement (Acquisition of Land) Act 1956 (for short the Act) in respect of this very land. Successive notifications contemplated under Section 3 thereof were issued between 1987 and 1991. The Society filed W.P.No.2599/1992. The parties therein, including the slum dwellers entered into a compromise. One of the important terms was that the acquisition under the Act be restricted to 50% of the area under the occupation of the slum dwellers and the rest of it, be permitted to be retained by the Society. The writ petition was disposed of on 10-4-2001, in terms of the compromise. The result is that Ac.1-32 cents of land in TS.No.5 came to be acquired under the Act. As many as 210 beneficiaries were identified vis--vis the land. The petitioners herein, 45 in number, were included in the list of 210 beneficiaries.