Kokkilagadda Haribabu, v. Union Of India,

THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.RAMALINGESWARA RAO WRIT PETITION No. 25713 of 2017 ORDER:

Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned Government Pleader for Forests for respondent Nos.2 to 6. This writ petition is filed seeking a direction to respondent Nos.2 to 5 for issuance of extraction work orders for harvesting the plantation allegedly raised by the petitioners in Coastal Regularisation Zone (CRZ) at K. Pallipalem Village, Kothapatnam Mandal, Ongole District.

It is the case of the petitioners that they are the members of Vana Samrakshna Samithi, which is not made as a party in this writ petition. The Vana Samrakshna Samithi was entrusted the responsibility to raise plantation in the land belonging to the Forest Department and now the plantation is ripe for cutting. At this juncture, respondent Nos.7 to 10, claiming title to the said land, appears to have filed O.S.No.267 of 2016 on the file of the Principal Junior Civil Judge, Ongole, seeking permanent injunction against the Divisional Forest Officer, the Forest Range Officer and three other persons claiming to be agricultural coolies. The said suit is pending and there is no injunction order. It is stated that though the correspondence was going on from 2015 onwards among respondent Nos.5 to 10 with regard to the cutting

of trees allegedly raised by the petitioners, no orders have been passed by the official respondents.

When this Court issued a notice on admission, learned counsel for the petitioners sought disposal of the matter in view of the urgency.

In the circumstances of the case and in the absence of response from the official respondents, this Court is not in a position to decide the rights of the petitioners. Therefore, the writ petition is disposed of directing the official respondents to consider the case of the petitioners in accordance with law and pass appropriate orders thereon within a period of three weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this writ petition shall stand closed. There shall be no order as to costs. __________________________ A.RAMALINGESWARA RAO,J Dt:02.08.2017 kdl