TODETI MALLAIAH Vs. B. SAMMI REDDY AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in W.P. No. 37639 of 2013 filed this contempt case alleging willful disobedience of interim order dt. 23.12.2013.

(2.) THE facts in a nutshell are as under. Alleging unlawful interference with his possession of land admeasuring Ac. 3.00 in Sy. No. 263 of Tallagommuru Village, Burghampahad Mandal, Khammam District (for short, the subject land), by the respondents, the petitioner filed W.P. No. 37639 of 2013 before this Court. In the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, it was averred that his father, late Venkateswarlu was the cultivator of the subject land, which is conceded to be a government land. That his father has occupied the said land in 1950 and his name was recorded in the revenue records, such as pahanies for the years 1963 -64, 1969 -70, 1971 -72, 1978 -79, and that after his fathers death in the year 1982 he has succeeded to the subject land and he is in possession of the same. The petitioner further averred that on 25.11.2013 at about 8.30 a.m. respondent No. 1 highhandedly started erecting fencing poles surrounding the petitioners land without issuing any show cause notice and without initiating proceedings under the Andhra Pradesh Land Encroachment Act. On 23.12.2013 this Court passed the following order:

(3.) IN response to the notice of this Court, respondent Nos. 1, 2 and 4 filed separate counter affidavits. In his counter affidavit, respondent No. 1 has pleaded that in pursuance of the policy decision taken by the government to protect and safeguard the government lands situated in urban and semi -urban areas by fencing around the same, the District Collector directed all the Tahsildars in the District to protect the government lands by fencing around them, vide his proceedings dt. 26.8.2013, that as per the directions of the Government and also of the District Collector, respondent No. 1 has surveyed the lands on 3.11.2013 and identified the government lands in Sy. Nos. 262 and 263 of Tallagommuru Village, Burghampahad Mandal, and requested respondent No. 2 to sanction amount for laying fencing around the identified government lands, and that respondent No. 3 in turn issued proceedings dt. 21.11.2013 releasing a sum of Rs. 1.00 lakh to meet the expenditure for fencing the government lands and issued demand draft dt. 21.11.2013. That acknowledging the said sum of Rs. 1.00 lakh, respondent No. 1 has requested respondent No. 3 to release the balance sum of Rs. 81,575/ - on 2.12.2013 and since then the land admeasuring Ac. 6.20 guntas in Sy. No. 263 was in the custody of the Government and the Village Revenue Officer and the Mandal Revenue Inspector, Burghampahad, were directed to protect the property.