Dr. Guda Suresh Kumar Reddy, v. The State Of Andhra Pradesh,

HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.45311 OF 2016 ORDER:

This Writ Petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is preferred by the petitioner seeking to declare the inaction of respondent No.4, in conducting survey and fixing boundaries in respect of land, admeasuring Ac.1.05 cents covered by Sy.No.384/A, Rameswaram Village, Proddatur Mandal, YSR Kadapa District, pursuant to his application dated 20.08.2016, as illegal and arbitrary. Consequently, a direction is sought to respondent No. 4 to conduct survey and fix boundaries in respect of the aforesaid land. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Government Pleader for Revenue (AP). With their consent the Writ Petition is disposed of at the admission stage itself.

Learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Government Pleader have placed before this Court the order dated 14.06.2013 passed in W.A.No.110 of 2013 wherein a Division Bench of this Court, after referring to Government Circular in Rc.No.N2/1741/2010 dated 18.05.2010 prescribing guidelines, based on Board Standing Order No.34-A paragraph and proceeding in D.O.Rc.No.N1/4296/2012 dated 22.08.2012 of Commissioner, Survey, Settlements & Land Records, Andhra

Pradesh, Hyderabad, in regard to demarcation of survey numbers, opined that there is no bar for revenue officials to conduct survey of lands at the request of private parties subject to their furnishing relevant documents. It is specifically held that the Circular referred to above issued by the Government permits the revenue officials to conduct survey on applications of the private parties. The view expressed by Division Bench in W.A.No.110 of 2013 has also been followed by another Division Bench in its order dated 16.07.2013 in W.A.No.1003 of 2013. Both these Division Benches have rejected the view that there cannot be survey of private lands by authorities of the Survey Department of the Government. The said ratio has been followed by a learned Single Judge of this Court in Golli Nagayamma v. State of Andhra Pradesh rep. by its District Collector, Visakhapatnam1.

Merely because there is no specific provision in AP Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923 (for short 'the Act') providing survey of private lands, it cannot be said that the authorities in Survey Department of State Government are prohibited from doing survey of private lands. Unless such a prohibition is provided in the Act, as public servants having expertise in doing survey (like other experts in fields of ballistics, handwriting, DNA etc.), it is incumbent on the officials of the Survey Department of the 1 2015 (4) ALT 98

State Government to survey private lands if a request to that effect is made after collecting the necessary charges therefor. The circulars referred to above as well as other Government G.Os. issued by the Revenue Department in this regard would be binding and would govern the procedure to be followed in respect of survey to be conducted for private patta lands as well.

As held by this Court in Hyderabad Potteries Pvt. Ltd. v. Collector, Hyderabad District2, the scheme of the AP Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923 would make it clear that the survey made under the said Act is mainly intended for the purposes of identification of the land and fixation of boundaries and there is no provision under the said Act for making any detailed enquiries with regard to right, title and interest of the persons in the land. Persons who are aggrieved by any decision referred to in the survey have liberty to approach appropriate Civil Court for adjudication, if needed. There is also no remedy under Section 11 of the said Act to the appellate authority constituted under the Act instead of Commissioner of Survey, Settlement and Land Records. As held in Khaja Naseeruddin v. Commissioner, Survey, Settlement and Land Records, Hyderabad3, if survey is sought by a person, after issuing notice on parties interested and in particular the registered 2 2001 (3) ALT 200 3 2007 (1) ALT 707

holders of land, the concerned official should conduct survey and demarcation in their presence.

The above principles are to be kept in mind and the above circulars are to be followed by the respondents while conducting survey of private lands under the Act. In this view of the matter, the Writ Petition is allowed and respondent No.4 is directed to cause a survey for demarcating the lands of the petitioner by considering his application dated 20.08.2016 after collecting necessary charges therefor within six months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order after issuing notice to the petitioner and other affected parties and communicate his decision thereon to the petitioner. There shall be no order as to costs. Miscellaneous petitions pending in this writ petition, if any, shall stand closed.

________________________ C. PRAVEEN KUMAR, J Date: 26.12.2016 usd