B PRATHAPA RAJU Vs. PRINCIPAL SECRETARY HEALTH HOUSING AND MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT GOVT OF A P HYDERABAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) When the W.P.M.Ps. came up for hearing, the learned Counsel appearing for the parties have submitted that the writ petitions themselves can be finally disposed of. Accordingly the writ petitions are being finally disposed of after hearing the learned Counsel for the parties.

(2.) Since the relief sought for in these two writ petitions is practically the same, they are being disposed by a common order. In these two writ petitions, the action of the Director of Town and Country Planning, Government of A.P., Hyderabad, in accepting the proposals submitted by the Kurnool Municipal Corporation for realignment and alteration of 60 feet Master Plan Road connecting Joharapuram, Kurnool with Gooty road in Survey No. 895 of Kallur Village and accordingly preparing the road development plan showing the realignment of the said road is under challenge. The relevant facts leading to these writ petitions may be briefly stated.

(3.) The general Town Planning Scheme of Kurnool Municipality as approved by the Municipal Council in its resolution No. 313, dated 29-1-1975 was sanctioned by the Government in G.O.Ms.No. 158, MA, dated 26th March, 1976 and the same was duly notified as per Section 14 of the Andhra Pradesh(Andhra Area) Town Planing Act, 1920. In the said scheme there was a proposal to lay a 60 feet wide road from Joharapuram village to Gooty main road. The said road was to pass through Survey No. 895 of Kallur village which is the private property of respondents 4 and 5 herein before joining the Gooty main road. The Kurnool Municipality was upgraded into a Municipal Corporation in the year 1994. The owners of Survey No. 895 seem to have applied to the Municipal Corporation on 2-12-1995 seeking alteration or deletion of the proposal to form the said road through Survey No. 895 which is their private property and to realign the same by passing it through K.C. Canal bund. The Municipal Corporation passed a resolution on 30-3-1996 accepting the request of the owners of Survey No. 895 for realignment of the said road and sent the said proposal for approval to the State Government through the Director of Town and Country Planning on 9-4-1996. By the impugned letter dated 27-5-1996 addressed by the Director of Town and Country Planning to the Commissioner of Kurnool Municipal Corporation, the Director of Town and Country Planning purported to approve the said proposal for realignment of the road and accordingly prepared a road development plan showing the realignment of the road. The petitioners in these two writ petitions are associations representing the residents of Joharapuram and surrounding areas in Kurnool town. Their grievance is that the realignment of the Master Plan Road at the instance of the owners of Survey No. 895 was approved by the Municipal Corporation and the Director of Town and Country Planning, without following the due procedure prescribed by Section 15 of the A.P. (Andhra Area) Town Planning Act, 1920 and without obtaining the prior sanction of the State Government which is mandatory and as such the same is illegal and without jurisdiction. It is further contended that the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation Circle, Kurnool, has objected to the said realignment of the Master Plan Road in his letter dated 7-5-1997 addressed to the Commissioner of Kurnool Municipal Corporation. It is also contended that the proposed realignment is contrary to the public interest as it will cause great inconvenience and hardship to the residents of the locality.