The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday disposed of a PIL seeking a declaration that the action of the respondents in not evicting encroachers from land belonging to the Government Junior College and Government High School in Kothapeta Village and Mandal, East Godavari District, as illegal and arbitrary, and directing the respondents to protect the land by evicting the encroachers.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy on perusal of the pleadings and the material papers, noted that the land possessed by respondent Nos.7 (The Principal) and respondent No.8 (The HeadMaster), Government Junior College and Government High School respectively, is alleged to have been encroached by the persons in the locality compelling the petitioner to approach the High Court by way of the public interest litigation.
Having regard to the nature of the prayer made in the PIL, the Court opined that to put an end to the litigation, a survey is required to be conducted and opportunity of hearing be provided to the alleged encroachers before taking appropriate action by the official respondents, in accordance with law.
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In that view of the matter, instead of keeping the PIL pending, the Bench felt it appropriate to dispose of the PIL by directing the Tehsildar to conduct a survey of the land belonging to respondent Nos.7 and 8 in the presence of interested parties, including the alleged encroachers, after due notice to them.
“If it is found that encroachments have been made over the land belonging to respondent Nos.7 and 8, respondent No.4 shall take necessary action, in accordance with the provisions of the AP Land Encroachment Act, 1905. The entire exercise shall be completed within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order,”
-the order reads.