Angoth Seetharam Naik v. The State Of Telangana,
HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) IVONDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF IVARCH TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY ONE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE T. AMARNATH GOUD WRIT PETITION NO: 28604 OF 2018 Between:
'1 . Angoth Seetharam Naik, S/o Angoth Valu, aged about 78 years, occ. ExSarpanch, 2, Var.ikadavath Peethya, S/o Gobhriya, aged about 39 years, occ. Agriculture
3. Visalavath Shivaram, S/o Hanya, aged about 43 years, occ Agriculture
4. Angoth Jayaram, S/o lr/angya, aged about 30 years, occ. Agriculture, -
5. Andoth Padma, D/o Salaviih Chander, aged about 28 years, occ. Housewife, (All re r/o Kongaguda village, Farooqnagar Mandal, Ranga Reddy District' erstwhile Mahabubnagar District.) ...pETlTloNERs AND1. The State of Telangana, rep. by its Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad.
2. The Diatrict Collector, Ranga Reddy District at Lakdikapool, Hyderabad.
3. The District Panchayat Officer, Ranga Reddy District.
4. The Revenue Divisional Officer, Shadnagar, R.R. District.
5. The Extension Officer, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, R.R.District. ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High court may be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ, Order or Direction, more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus, to declare the action of the respondent authorities in forming the Melaguda Tanda as Gram panchayat by including the Kongaguda and Colony Tanda in the recent formation of Gram panchayat without taking into consideration the population and lands as being illegal, arbitrary, and u nconstitutional and consequently direct the respondent authorities to name the new gram panchayat as Kongaguda Gram panchayat instead of Melaguda Tanda by considering the representations dt. 29-1-201 8.
lA NO: 1 OF 2018 Petition under section 'l 51 cPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to direct the l respondent authorities herein to consider and take appropriate action pursuant to the representations dt. 29-1-2018, pending disposal of the Writ Petition. Counsel for the Petitioners: SRl. GOUNDLA VENKAT Counsel for the Respondent Nos.1, 3 & 5:
GP FOR PANCHAYAT RAJ & RURAL DEVELOPMENT Gounsel forthe Respondent Nos.2 & 4: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following: ORDER
'BLE RI JUSTICET.
ATH GOUD THE HO WRIT PETITTON No.28604 oF 2018 ORDER:
The prayer of the petitioners in this Writ Petition is as follows to issue an appropriate Writ Order or Direction more p..ti""t".ty on; in the nature of Writ of Mandamus to i;;hr= ttre action of the respondent authorities in forming if,. frf.f"g"a" Tanda as Gram panchayat by including the KonsasuJa and Colony Tanda in the recent formation of C.ril"p.""ttayat without taking into consideration the """ri"tio" ""a lands as being illegal, arbitrary and l"!.""ii*ti.nal and consequently direct the respondent ^,rtfro.iti." to name the new gram panchayat as Kongaguda Ci.- p..*fr"Vat instead of Melaguda Tanda by considering ttt. i.p.".."t;tion dated 29.Ol '2OlB and to grant such other ."ti.f o. reliefs as the Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper in the circumstances of the case.
2.
Heard learned counsel lor the petitioners and learned Government Pleaders.
3.
The case of the petitioners is that the Government had contemplated to take up the formation of new Gram Panchayats in the State with the objective of empowering the tribal and remote areassoaStoensurefocuseddevelopmentandimproveservice delivery and it was proposed to adopt certain criteria' as per which all Tribal Thandas / Gudems / Gumpus / Habitations with a population of 500 and above and located al 2 KM or more distance from the existing Gram Panchayat Head Quarter may be formed as a new Gram Panchayat and that the other nearby habitations may be grouped with it as per convenience' It is their further case that inthesaidprocessofformationofnewGramPanchayat,the respondent authorities have included three tandas viz"
Kongaguda, Melaguda and Colony Tanda and formed it as Melaguda Gram Panchayat but the fact remains that in Melaguda Tanda the population shown is 100 whereas the population of Kongaguda is 307 and apart from the above the entire lands in Sy.Nos. 1 to 38 belong to Kongaguda. The respondent authorities without verifying the population and the lands within the vicinity and without inviting any objections from the Kongaguda village, have unilaterally named the new Gram Panchayat as Melaguda by forming three villages Kongaguda, Melaguda and Colony Tanda instead of Kongaguda Gram Panchayat under the pressure exerted by the political parties. As such they submitted a representation to the respondent authorities on 29.O1.2OL8, which was not considered. Hence the Writ Petition.
4.
As seen from the Annexure - I i.e. the Revised List of Newly Proposed Gram Panchayats - Ranga Reddy District, Melaguda is an existing panchayat. However, even as per the Annexure, the population of the proposed habitations are, Melaguda - 1O0, Kongaguda - 307 and Colony Thanda - 260. Likewise, the distance from the Head Quarters to Melaguda is 3 KM whereas the distance between Kongaguda and Colony Thanda is 0.5 KM and 0.3 KM respectively. As per the said annexure itself Kongaguda is a revenue village and the entire lands in Sy.Nos. 1 to 38 are existing in Kongaguda village. The claim of the petitioners is also that Kongaguda village has bus facility and road facility. Further, from the representation dated 29.O1.2OI8 it can be seen that residents of Kongaguda Thanda have also given their land for construction of a Gram Panchayat Office in Kongaguda. In such circumstances, the proposal of the respondent authorities to name the new gram
panchayat as Melaguda instead of Kongaguda is arbitrary and against to the procedure contemplated, since all the parameters to be taken into consideration are in favour of naming the new Gram Panchayat at Kongaguda Gram Panchayat only and the nearby habitations may be grouped with it as per convenience. The population of Kongaguda is more, the extent of land in vicinity of Kongaguda is more and the distance from the head quarters to Kongaguda is also very near when compared to Melaguda. Since the petitioners have already made a representation dated 29.O1.2018 in that regard, the action of the respondent authorities in not considering the same is arbitrary.
5.
In that view of the matter, the Writ Petition is disposed of, directing the respondent authorities to consider the representation of the petitioners dated 29.O1 ,2018 in a positive matter and take appropriate action as expeditiously as possible within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No order as to costs.
Miscelianeous petitions if any pending shall stand closed. SD/.T.TIRUMALA DEVI ASSISTANT REGISTRAR X\.,.
SECTION OFFICER I iI //TRUE COPYi/ I To,
1. The Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department, State of Telangana, Secretariat, Hyderabad.
2. The District Collector, Ranga Reddy District at Lakdikapool, Hyderabad.
3. The District Panchayat Officer, Ranga Reddy District.
4. The Revenue Divisional Officer, Shadnagar, R.R. District.
5. The Extension Officer, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, R.R.District.
6. One CC to Sri Goundla Venkat, Advocate IOPUC]
7. Two CCs to GP for Panchayat Raj & Rural Development, High Court for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad. [OUT] B. Two CCs to GP for Revenue, High Court for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad. [OUT]
9. Two CD Copies i CHR \\).
HIGH COURT DATED:01 10312021 7€:
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ORDER
DESPAl * * I W.P.No.28604 of 2018 d DISPOSING OF THE WRIT PETITION WITHOUT GOSTS *{v