T BHAJRANG Vs. GOVERNMENT OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ petition has been instituted calling in question the orders passed by the 2nd respondent - A. P. Housing Board requiring the writ petitioner to pay a sum of Rs. 9,10,299/- for purposes of selling land admeasuring 49. 33 Sq. yards situated at M. J. Road, at Hyderabad, in favour of the writ petitioner.

(2.) THE facts to the extent relevant are that the writ petitioner has occupied a vacant strip of land admeasuring 49. 33 sq. yards belonging to the Housing board. It was adjoining to Block No. 7, Pay and Accounts Office, situated at m. J. Road, Hyderabad. The writ petitioner has been in occupation of this strip of land for a very long time now. He has earlier, in the company of Sri t. Prabhu Singh instituted WP No. 21801 of 1994 in this court seeking a writ of mandamus not to dispossess them from the land in question. That writ petition came to be disposed of on 23. 3. 1995 with a direction to the A. P. Housing Board to issue notice to the petitioners fixing up the price of the land in terms of g. O. Ms. No. 20, dated 11. 6. 1984 and to convey the land within a period of four months from the date of receipt of the said order. Pending such a decision, the petitioners are ordered not be evicted from the land in question. Aggrieved by the said order, the A. P. Housing Board carried the matter in appeal by instituting WA No. 849 of 1995. A Division Bench of this Court by its order dated 13. 10. 1995 did not find any merit in the appeal and accordingly dismissed it. Thus, it has become necessary for the Housing Board to determine the value of the land under occupation of the writ petitioner so as to convey the said land in favour of the writ petitioner upon receipt of the price so fixed. In this context, it will also be relevant to notice that the State Government has passed orders through their G. O. Ms. No. 20, Housing, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department, dated 11. 6. 1984 framing certain policy guidelines to be adopted and followed by the A. P. Housing Board. The State government has taken an overall view of the policy decisions on the subject of disposal of lands belonging to the Housing Board on payment of market value. The State Government earlier, through their G. O. Ms. No. 67, Housing, dated 28. 5. 1977 directed the Housing Board to follow the procedure of fixing the market value as determined by the Registration Department while disposing of sites which are measuring 250 sq. yards and less than that. The Housing Board solicited guidelines/instructions from the State Government as to the measures to be taken for disposal of stray pieces of land which are less than 100 Sq. yards in size, other than footpaths and road margins, to be sold to the adjacent house owners on current market value basis. The Housing Board has also solicited directions from the State Government as to the measures to be adopted by the Housing Board for regularizing non-objectionable encroachments found on housing Board lands by collecting the market value plus encroachment fee from the date of such encroachment. Considering all these aspects, the State government formulated its policy decision and announced the same in their G. O. Ms No. 20, dated 11. 6. 1984 referred to supra. The State Government permitted the A. P. Housing Board to sell stray pieces of land measuring less than 100 Sq. yards each other than footpaths and road margins to the adjacent house owners on current market value basis subject to the condition that no objection is obtained from the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. The State Government has also pointed out that the regularization of the non objectionable encroachments of Housing Board lands which are less than 100 Sq. yards may be resorted to after collecting the present market value plus encroachment fee from the date of such encroachment. It is this policy decision of the State Government, which is what this Court directed the Housing Board to take into reckoning for purposes of determining the land value of the stray piece of 49. 33 sq. yards occupied and encroached upon by the writ petitioner, while disposing of WP No. 21809 of 1994.

(3.) IN the purported implementation of the said decision, the A. P. Housing board has determined the land value at the rate of RS. 15,400/- per sq. yard and thus arrived at a total value of RS. 7,59,682/ -. It had also proposed to collect charges towards preparation of the registration plans and conveyance charges of rs. 150/- and Rs. 50/- respectively. The encroachment fee at the rate of rs. 6267. 37 ps per month is sought to be collected for the period from December, 1994 till November, 1996, when the impugned order has come to be passed. This exercise of the Housing Board is what is challenged in the writ petition.