Writ Petition Maintainable Even If There Is Alternate Remedy, Where Principles Of Natural Justice Are Not Followed: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Petitioners in this case had applied for mutation of their names to the land purchased by them. The contention of the Petitioners was that the said application was rejected without following the procedure stipulated under AP Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971, specifically Section 5 of the Act which provides that the petitioner should have been given a notice and thereafter the order should have been passed after giving the Petitioner an opportunity of hearing.

It was argued on behalf of the Petitioners that such an exercise was not followed.

On behalf of the Respondent Authorities it was argued that no further order is required from the authorities and the only right available to the Petitioners was to file an appeal.

At the outset, the court observed that although Section 5 mandates that an order be passed only after issuing notice to the parties and giving them an opportunity of hearing, the impugned order did not meet the criteria.

"A prima facie reading of the order shows that no notice was issued to the petitioners. Only two documents have been referred to in the order i.e., the mutation application made by the petitioner No.3 and the enquiry report of the Mandal Revenue Inspector. Beyond this there is no reference to any notice being issued etc.," the Court noted.

Hence, it was of the opinion that the respondent must conduct a de novo enquiry into the application filed by the petitioners, strictly in compliance with the provisions of Section 5 of the Act and Rules. there under.

It observed,

"Keeping this writ petition pending is therefore is not called for. Once there is a failure of rules of natural justice, even if there is an alternative remedy, a writ is maintainable. The law is well settled."

Resultantly, the High Court set aside the order of rejection and directed the respondents to follow the procedure under law and pass a fresh order,

Case Title : Polu Venkata Lakshmamma & Ors v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (AP) 16

Case Number : WP 2644 of 2022

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