APHC010294052025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) QMS WEDNESDAY,THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT THE HONOURABLE MS JUSTICE B S BHANUMATHI WRIT PETITION NO: 18591 OF 2025 Between: Patri Anjali Devi, W/o Patri Srinivasa Rao, Aged about 41 years, R/o D.No.11-35, Kethanakonda Village (previously Krishna District). Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, NTR District ...Petitioner AND 1. The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep by its Principal Secretary Department, Secretariat, Velagapudi, Amaravathi Guntur District. 2. The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep by its Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, Secretariat, Velagapudi, Amaravathi, Guntur District. 3. The Forest Settlement Officer, Krishna and West Godavari District, Vijayawada. 4. The Tahsildar, Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, NTR District (previously Krishna District). 5. The Forest Range Officer, Vijayawada Range Vijayawada. Forest ...Respondents Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus to declare the inaction of Respondent No.3 in disposing off Petitioner s Application dated 28.02.2025 (Received on 05.03.2025) as per se • r illegal, manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable and opposed to Andhra Pradesh Forests Act, Andhra Pradesh Pattadar Passbooks Act and Rules thereunder and contrary to the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 300-A besides being violative of Principles of Natural Justice and consequently to direct the Respondent No.3 to dispose of the same in accordance with law. r lA NO: 1 OF 2025 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, the High Court may be pleased to Pending disposal of the writ petition, it is therefore urged to this Hon’ble Court to direct the Respondent No.3 to dispose off the Petitioner’s Application dated 28.02.2025 (Received on 05.03.2025) in accordance with law. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI AKULA SRI KRISHNA SAI BHARGAV Counsel for the Respondents No.1,3,5:GP FOR FORESTS Counsel for the Respondents No.2,4: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following order: APHC010294052025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) i [3311] Wednesday, the Twenty Third Day of July, Two Thousand and Twenty Five Present The Honourable Ms. Justice B .S.Bhanumathi Writ Petition No. 18591/2025 Between: Path Anjali Devi, W/o Path Srinivasa Rao, aged about 41 years, R/o D.No.11-35, Kethanakonda village, Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, NTR District (previously Krishna District). ...Petitioner And 1 .The State of Andhra Pradesh, represented by its Principal Secretary, Forest Department, Secretariat, Velagapudi, Amaravathi, Guntur District. 2.The State of Andhra Pradesh, represented by its Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, Secretariat, Velagapudi, Amaravathi, Guntur District. 3.The Forest Settlement Officer, Krishna & West Godavari District, Vijayawada. 4.The Tahsildar, Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, NTR District (previously Krishna District). 5.The Forest Range Officer, Vijayawada Range, Vijayawada. Counsel for the petitioner: I.Akula Sri Krishna Sai Bhargav Counsel for the respondents: 1. Government Pleader for Revenue 2. Government Pleader for Forests ...Respondents. 2 W.P. No.18591 of2025 The Court made the following; ORDER: This writ petition under Article 226 of Constitution of India is filed to issue a writ order or direction particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus to declare the inaction of respondent No.3 in disposing of petitioner’s application dated 28.02.2025 (received 05.03.2025) as per se illegal, manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable and opposed to Andhra Pradesh Forests Act, Andhra Pradesh pattadar passbooks Act and Rules thereunder and contrary to the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 300-A, besides being violative of principles of natural justice and consequently to direct the respondent No.3 to dispose of the same in accordance with law and pass such other order or orders which this Court deems fit in the interest of justice”. on The case of the petitioner is briefly as follows:- The petitioner is owner of Ac.3.19 cents of land in Sy.No.88/1, 88/2 and 88/3 situated at Zaminavipothavaram village, Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, N.T.R District (previously Krishna District) and has been in uninterrupted possession and enjoyment of it. Prior to 1962, this property belonged to the government as “Gayalu-cum-Government dry land”. During 2016, the Sub-Registrar, Ibrahimpatnam refused to register the sale deed. The petitioner preferred an application to the Tahsildar, Ibrahimpatnam under Right to Information Act, 2005 about the property. The Tahsildar furnished information vide endorsements in R.T.I / 438 / 2015 dated 21.09.2015 and R.T.I / 509 / 2015, dated 19.12.2015 stating that the property was assigned on payment of market value and pattadar pass books and title deeds were also issued. As such, the petitioner, along with family members of the 2. 3 BSB,J W.P. No.18591 of 2025 original assignees, was constrained to approach the High Court by filing W.P. No.15472 of 2016 and W.P. No.15593 of 2016. The writ petitions were disposed of directing the Sub-Registrar, Ibrahimpatnam to receive and process the documents in accordance with law. Pursuant thereto, the original assignees executed three registered sale deeds vide document No.4251 of 2016, 4384 of 2016 and 4385 of 2016 in respect of the entire extent of the property in favour of the petitioner. The revenue authorities issued pattadar passbooks, title deeds, adangals and 1-B records for the said property in favour of the vendor of the petitioner as patta land vide khata numbers 41, 42 and 43 and the market value is also the same till today from 2016 as a dry land. To the utter surprise and dismay of the petitioner, the then District Collector-cum-District Magistrate, Krishna District, Machilipatnam issued prohibitory list of property within section 22A of 1908 to the District Registrar, Krishna, the Registration Act Machilipatnam by including the entire property of the petitioner within its ambit stating that the entire property as “Gayalu-Revenue (Court case). Consequently, the District Registrar, Vijayawada also issued an endorsement bearing No.GI / 1105 / 2018 dated 14.05.2018, by including the property of the petitioner in the list of prohibitory properties. On the contrary, the Sub-Registrar, Ibrahimpatnam issued a letter of communication bearing No.C / 84 / 2018, dated 17.04.2018 duly affirming that the property was not included within list of prohibitory properties. Therefore, the petitioner filed W.P.No.41850 of 2018 before this High Court. This Court, vide order dated 17.11.2022, issued directions to the respondent No.4 to pass a detailed order on the inclusion of the entire property in the prohibitory list. Contrary to the stand taken by the respondent No.2, the Sub-Registrar, 4 BSB, J W.P. No.18591 of2025 Ibrahimpatnam issued letter of communication vide Lr.No.20 of 2023, dated 03.02.2023 stating that the entire property is private property and it belongs to the petitioner. In pursuance of order of this Court in W.PNo.41850 of 2018, dated 17.11.2022 and the representation of the petitioner dated 07.01.2023, without considering the material on record from proper perspective, the respondent No.4 issued an endorsement vide Rc.Land-3 / 74 / 2023 dated 04.04.2023 stating that the entire property is assigned land and cannot be removed from prohibitory list. So the petitioner preferred an appeal before the respondent No.3 on 17.04.2023. The appeal was admitted vide CCLA’s Ref.No.Assn.1/20802421 / 2023 dated 17.04.2023 and the connected records pertaining to the appeal directed to be sent to the respondent No.3. The respondent No.3 issued proceedings vide CCLA’s Ref.No.Assn.1/20802421 / 2023 dated 07.12.2023 requesting the parties concerned to appear for final hearing on 13.12.2023. The petitioner filed written arguments on 06.11.2023. The Collector filed his reply affidavit on 17.11.2023. The petitioner filed reply affidavit dated 06.12.2023 and a memo dated 13.12.2023. Then, the Collector filed his additional counter dated 17.02.2024. Later, the petitioner filed another reply to the counter on 22.07.2024. They are pending for consideration. Simultaneously, the petitioner filed an application dated 28.02.2025 (received on 05.03.2025) before the respondent No.3 requesting to grant no objection certificate over the aforesaid property of the petitioner. Having received the same vide Rc.No.17/FSO/2025 dated 19.03.2025, the respondent No.3 issued notice to the petitioner and the respondent No.4 and 5 with a direction to attend for enquiry. As such, now the matter stood pending for consideration before the respondent No.3 for final hearing. Due to the inaction of the respondents No.3 in not disposing of the application of the petitioner 5 BSB,J W.P. No.18591 of2025 dated 28.02.2025, this writ petition was filed. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that since the petitioner needs an early disposal of the representation since the issue has been pending for long time, the writ petition may be disposed of directing the respondent No.3 to expeditiously take a decision within the time framed fixed by this Court. 3. The learned Assistant Government Pleader for Forests placed on record written instructions of the Forest Range Officer, Vijayawada-T Range, Vijayawada, vide Rc.No.03 of 2025 dated 23.06.2025 addressed to the Government Pleader for Forests, mainly stating that as per Section 4 of A.P.Forest Act, 1967, no one can issue pattas in the notified area and if any patta was issued prior to Section-4 notification, such a person has to make a claim against Section-6 proclamation issued by the Forest Settlement Officer and thereafter, the Forest Settlement Officer issues award by conducting enquiry to delete the land from Section-4 notification, if such claim is found genuine. It further states that the Forest Settlement Officer prepared a draft of Section-15 proposals to the Navepothavaram forest block and submitted to the higher authorities since no claims had been received against the Section-6 proclamation. Therefore, it is further stated that the petitioner lost her right on the subject land. The petitioner has preferred W.P.No.15472 of 2016 and W.P.No.15593 of 2016 and W.P.No.41850 of 2018 in which the forest department is not respondent. 4. f J ( The learned Assistant Government Pleader for Forest submitted that the matter is under active consideration and requested to pass an appropriate order. 5. 6. On consideration of the submissions on both sides, the writ BSB,J W.P. No.18591 of2025 petition is disposed of directing the representation / application (received respondent No.3 to dispose of the of the petitioner dated 28.02.2025 on 05.03.2025) within eight (08) weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the order. There shall be no orders as to costs. As a sequel thereto, this writ petition shall stand closed. miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in Sd/- B PRASADA RAO ASSISTANT^REGi'STRAR SEC //true copy// To, The Principal Secretary Secretariat, Velagapudi, 2- The Principal Secretary Secretariat, Velagapudi 3. The Forest Settlement Vijayawada. The Tahsildar District). - ^e cr.:' T. Two CCS to GP FOR REVENuTHfahT 'OPUCJ 8- Two CCS to GP FOR FORESTS H' h r Pradesh [OUT] 9- Two CD Copies of Andhra Pradesh ’ Andhra Pradesh ’ Amaravathi Guntur District. ’ *^orest Department, ’ of Andhra Pradesh, ’’ A^aravathi, Guntur District. Revenue Department, Officer, Krishna and West Godavari District, Ibrahimpatnam Mandal, NTR District (previously Krishna fOUTJ nm HIGH COURT DATE 0:23/07/2025 ORDER WP NO. 18591 OF 2025 DISPOSING OF THE WP WITHOUT COSTS