IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE NINTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO : 14228 of 2004 Between: Kollu ravindra Babu Naidu s/o Venkata Subbaiah Naidu Chairman of Renovation Committee, Sri Talakona Siddeswara Swamy Temple, Talakona vilalge, Yerravaripalem Mandal, Chittoor district ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Commissioner, Endowmensts Department Government of A.P., Tilak Road, Hyderabad 2 The District Collector Chittoor 3 the Executive Director, A.P. Tourism Development Corporation Ltd., 3rd Floor F.D.C. Complex,A.C. Guards, Masab Tank, Hyderabad 4 The Divisional Manager, A.P. Toursim Corporation Limited Tirupati, Chittoor District 5 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Yerravaripalem Mandal Chittoor District .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an order, direction or Writ, more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the issue an order, direction or Writ, more particulalry one in the nature of wRit of Mandamus declaring the orderof the District Collector chittoor vide his Proceedings Roc. E1/624/2001, dated 9-2-2002 wherein and whereunder, he directed forhanding over advance possession of the land measuring an extent Ac. 0.60 cents in Sy. No. 1481/4 and Ac 0.60 cents in Sy. No. 1481/4 and ac. 1.09 in Sy. No. 1481/6 to the A.P. Trouism Department pending alienation proposals and directing the 5th respondent to hand over the said land to the 4th respondent and send alienation proposals etc. as illegal, arbitrary without any authority of law or jarisdiction and null and void and consequently direct the respondents toredeliver the possession of the same to sri sidoeswara Swamy Temple, Talakona, Nerabailu Village, Yerravaripalem Mandal, Chittoor District Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.V.SUDHAKAR REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR ENDOWMENTS The Court made the following : ORDER : This Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ of Mandamus declaring the order of the District Collector, Chittoor vide his proceedings Roc.E1/624/2001, dated 09.02.2002, wherein he directed for handing over advance possession of the land measuring an extent of Ac.0-60 cents in Sy.No.1481/4 and Ac.1.00 in Sy.No.1481/6 to the A.P. Tourisim Department pending alienation proposals as arbitrary and illegal without any authority of law or jurisdiction and consequently to direct the respondents to redeliver the possession of the same to Sri Siddeswara Swamy Temple, Talakona, Nerabailu Village, Yerravaripalem Mandal, Chittoor District. The Writ Petition originally filed by one Kollu Ravindra Babu Naidu, purported to be the chairman of renovation committee of Sri Talakona Siddeswara Swamy Temple, Talakona village, Chittoor District having appointed as per G.O.Rt.No.357, Revenue (Endowments-II) Department, dated 22.02.2003. It appears that during the pendency of writ petition the said Ravindra Babu Naidu expired. Therefore, the Executive Officer of the Devasthanam filed W.P.M.P.No.2343 of 2008 praying to substitute him as writ petitioner in the main writ petition to transact the same. While the same was pending the orders of adopting the temple Sri Kalahastheeswara Swamivari Devasthanam were cancelled and the petitioner temple was made independent temple and a Manager was posted and now the said Manager filed W.P.M.P.No.6813 of 2009 praying the Court to substitute him as writ petitioner in the main petition and to permit him to prosecute the same. The petition was ordered as prayed for. Now coming to the merits of the case, it appears that the lands of the temple in an extent of Ac.0-60 cents in Sy.No.1481/4 and Ac.1-00 in Sy.No.1481/6 was directed to be handed over to the A.P. Tourism Department for development, pending alienation proceedings under the impugned proceedings dated 09.02.2002. Admittedly these lands belonging to Sri Talakona Siddeswara Swamy Temple, Talakona. There is no necessity of going into all details. It is suffice to notice that the Executive Officer and Special Grade Deputy Collector addressed a letter to the Mandal Revenue Officer, Yerravari Palem Mandal dated 21.09.2002 stating that against an extent of Ac.6-45 cents in Sy.No.14-81 of Nerabilu village an extent of Ac.1-13 cents is covered by Vanka and road (Sy.No.1481/5), Ac.0-14 cents, and (Sy.No.Vanka 1481/8), 0-99 cents. An extent of Ac.3-69 cents is retained to the temple. The remaining extent of Ac.1-63 cents is proposed to be allotted to other departments. In this connection the Executive Officer pointed out that the lands are very nearer to the temple and any construction within the reach of the main temple is objectionable according to Agama Sasthrams. Therefore, it is not advisable to alienate the said lands to other departments. The land is solely meant for development activities of the temple such as construction of Choultries etc., for the convenience of the pilgrims as Talakona Temple is gaining popularity and it is the responsibility of the temple authorities to provide minimum facilities to the visiting pilgrims. Sri Siddeswaraswami Temple, Talakona is affiliated to Sri Kalahastheeswara Swamivari Devasthanam and as such the development activities of the said temple will be taken by the Executive Officer of Sri Kalahastheeswara Swamyvari Devasthanam. Therefore, he requested the Mandal Revenue Officer not to handover or give possession of any land without the consent of the Executive Officer, Srikalahastheeswara swamivari Devasthanam. Apart from this the present Manager of Sri Talakona Siddeswaraswamy temple has filed a detailed affidavit after it was made independent, reiterating the same stand as was taken by the Executive Officer in the above letter. The District Collector filed his counter stating that the land covered under this writ petition is a Government Porambok and the Executive Officer is not at all connected with this land and he has no powers vested with him to interfere with the Government lands. He further stated that the opinion of the Executive Officer is imaginary and basing on that purported letter this writ petition is filed. Therefore, the opinion of the Executive Officer is baseless. The land has been sub-divided and allotted to different departments viz., TTD, Tirupati, A.P. Tourism, R & B to provide facilities to the pilgrims. However, after issuing notices to respondents, while admitting the writ petition, status quo was ordered and in view of the same, no developmental activity has been taken place as on today. The fact remains that no permission from the Commissioner of Endowments was obtained nor the Endowments Department is willing to part with the land and give it or sell it to the A.P. Tourism Department. Under those circumstances, the respondents are directed to desist from allotting the subject land to the A.P. Tourism Department. Accordingly, this Writ Petition is allowed and the impugned order is set aside. However, this will not preclude the District Collector for allotting the same in favour of the Tourism Department, if necessary, after obtaining due permission from the Commissioner of Endowments Department. _____________ C.V.RAMULU, J Dated July 09, 2009 KSH