Sharon Church v. The District Collector, Ananthapur,

HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR WRIT PETITION No. 17703 of 2011 ORDER:

With the consent of both the parties, the writ petition is disposed of at the admission stage itself.

The present writ petition is filed seeking a direction to the respondents to issue a patta in favour of Church, Sharon Prayer House, Ambedkar Nagar, East Marredpally, Secunderabad. The averments in the petition are as under:

The petitioners have started a church under the name and style of Sharon Prayer House in the year 1977 in Ambedkar Nagar, East Marredpally, with temporary built up area of 100 square yards. It is stated that as the church was located in slum area, which falls within the jurisdiction of Urban Community Development, Municipal Corporation, the petitioners made an application before the Project Officer, U.C.D., M.C.H.

Secunderabad Division for further constructions. While things stood thus on 19.03.1991 the Director, U.C.D., Secunderabad, released a lay out plan for the developmental housing program in Ambedkar Nagar slum area through Andhra Pradesh Urban Development and Housing Corporation. The lay out plan showed the space provided for construction of church opposite to a 40 feet road. On 31.05.1996, another lay out was released by the District Manager, Housing Cell, Hyderabad Collectorate, wherein the place for construction of the church, was not provided. Immediately, the petitioners are alleged to have made a

representation to the then Chief Minister, who directed the third respondent-Mandal Revenue Officer to investigate into the matter. It is stated that though the representations have been made to the respondents long back, no action was initiated. On 10.12.2010 another representation was made to the second respondent for allotment of some land for construction of the church. It is stated that till date no orders are passed on such representation. Hence, present writ petition. Learned Government Pleader for Revenue submits that the issue of allotment of land for the purpose of construction of a church has to be decided by the Government and that this Court cannot go into the said aspect. Merely because electricity connection was provided to a temporary building does not by itself mean that the land has to be provided for construction of a church.

As stated earlier, the only grievance of the petitioners is that though they made a representation on 10.12.2010 for allotment of land, till date no orders are passed. Without going into the merits of the case, the writ petition is disposed of by advising the first respondent to dispose of the representation dated 10.12.2010 made by the petitioners, if it is still pending, in accordance with law within a period of six (06) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No order as to costs. Consequently, miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this Writ Petition shall stand closed.

_________________________ JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR

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