LAWS(TLNG)-2018-10-51

KOTHURU GANGADHAR Vs. TUNI MUNICIPALITY AND ORS.

Decided On October 04, 2018
Kothuru Gangadhar Appellant
V/S
Tuni Municipality And Ors. Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The prayer in this Writ Petition reads as under:

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that he along with his cousin, by name, Murali Krishna, is in occupation of the land to an extent of Ac.0.1 ? cents each, situated at GNT Road, Tuni, East Godavari District, and both of them are having barber shops on it side by side; that he applied to the municipal authorities under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Homestead Act, 1974 (for short 'the Act'), for grant of ownership certificate and after thorough enquiry, the Tahsildar, Tuni, issued Homestead certificate to him; that the said Murali Krishna also applied for the same and was granted; that the Tahsildar gave possession certificate to the petitioner on 11/12/2008 and in the said certificate, the western boundary of his site is the site of the said Murali Krishna; that on 8/2/2009, he submitted an application to the first respondent - Tuni Municipality, represented by its Commissioner, Tuni, East Godavari District, seeking to assess his property to tax so that a door number would be assigned to it and thereupon, the first respondent informed him through letter, dtd. 12/3/2009 that respondents 2 and 3 got issued a registered legal notice stating that O.S.No.82 of 2001 was filed against his brother, Murali Krishna, with respect to the property in his occupation and the said suit was also decreed for eviction, as such, the property in his occupation cannot be mutated in his name and cannot be assessed to property tax; that thereafter, he replied to the said letter on 2/4/2009 clarifying that the property involved in O.S.No.82 of 2001 filed against the said Murali krishna is situated by the side of his property and he was not a party to the suit, as such, there cannot be any impediment for assessing his property to tax; that the first respondent sent another letter to him on 15/4/2009 stating that when there is a dispute with respect to the title to the property, the assessment cannot be made ignoring the rival claims unless there is a declaratory decree from the competent Civil Court; that he got issued another legal notice on 21/5/2009 reiterating that the property involved in O.S.No.82 of 2001 is different from the property, for which, he is seeking assessment to tax; that the rules do not contemplate obtaining a decree for effecting mutation or making an entry in the assessment book and at best, what is contemplated is an enquiry to be conducted; that the objection raised by respondents 2 and 3 is not at all valid as the property involved in the suit is admittedly, the western boundary of his property and that merely because his property is situated on the western side of the property, which was locked in litigation, his claim for mutation cannot be denied. Aggrieved by the same, he filed this Writ Petition.

(3.) A counter-affidavit is filed by respondent No.2 on behalf of respondents 2 and 3 specifically denying the very existence of barber shops set up by the petitioner as well as his cousin, Murali Krishna, on GNT Road, Tuni, East Godavari District, and asserting that the fathers of the petitioner and the said Murali Krishna were lessees in the land to an extent of 36 sq.yards since 1967 and after their becoming old, the petitioner and Murali Krishna, came into possession of it and are continuing the same business; that on coming to know that their land in Survey No.268/4 of Veeravaram Village, Tuni Mandal, was wrongly notified as poramboke in Survey and Settlement Register, they approached the Joint Collector-cum-Settlement Officer, East Godavari, Kakinada, for issuance of ryotwari patta for the above land and after due enquiry, the Joint Collector-cum- Settlement Officer issued proceedings in R.C.No.F1/48637/98, dtd. 26/7/1999 holding that it is not a poramboke and it is a zeroithi land; that the Joint Collector further issued ryotwari patta with respect to an extent of 0.52 cents of land in favour of the answering respondent; that the said land was given to lease to one Kothuru Arjuna Rao, who is the father of the said Murali Krishna, and Kola Appa Rao; that when the said Murali Krishna applied for grant of certificate under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Homestead Act, 1974, to protect the interests of the respondents, they filed O.S.No.82 of 2001 against the said Murali Krishna and the said suit was decreed for eviction; that so far as the petitioner is concerned, he is running barber shop by setting up a temporary wooden box in 36 sq.yards of land, with respect to which, he is trying to create rights in the same by seeking mutation in the municipal records for assessing it to property tax, though he is not the owner.