THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.22726 of 2008 ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled for a writ of mandamus to set aside the auction notiﬁcation in respect of the lands in occupation of the petitioners belonging to respondent No.3 situated at Pedapavani Village, Lingasamudram Mandal, Prakasam District. Heard Sri T.C.Krishnan, learned counsel for the petitioners, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Endowments and perused the record. The petitioners were granted lease of diﬀerent extents of lands belonging to respondent No.3 for a period of three years, which expired in the year 2006. The petitioners approached respondent No.2 for declaration that they are landless poor persons and that they are entitled to pre-emptory rights envisaged under Section 82(2) of the A.P. Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (for short ‘the Act’). By separate but identical orders dated 04-10-2008, respondent No.2 rejected the said claim of the petitioners. Thereafter, respondent No.3 proposed to auction the leasehold rights of the properties in question. At the hearing, learned counsel for the petitioners contended that though the lease was granted initially for three years, which expired in 2006, respondent No.3 recognized the petitioners’ possession of the lands and collected lease amounts for the years 2007-08 and 2008-09. He, therefore, submitted that the action of respondent No.3 in seeking to auction the leasehold rights of the properties in dispute is illegal and arbitrary. I have perused the record. The petitioners ﬁled copies of receipts purportedly issued by the Managing Trustee/Executive Oﬃcer, which clearly show that he collected certain amounts towards damages for occupation of the lands by the petitioners for the years 2007-08 and 2008-09. The very fact that the amount collected from the petitioners is described as damages belies the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners that respondent No.3 extended the lease period upto the year 2009. It is quite obvious that the amounts were collected from the petitioners for being in occupation of the land beyond the lease period towards damages. Be that as it may, under Section 82(1), all existing leases stand terminated by virtue of the provisions of the Act. However, under Section 82(2), if the occupants are landless poor persons and in occupation of the lands for a period of not less than six years, they are entitled to claim pre-emptory rights over the endowments properties subject to the conditions envisaged therein. As the petitioners’ claim for declaring them as landless poor has been rejected by respondent No.2, they are entitled to ﬁle appeal before the Regional Joint Commissioner concerned under Rule 4 of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Lease of Agricultural Lands Rules, 2003. The Writ petition is, therefore, dismissed without going into the correctness or otherwise of the orders passed by respondent No.2 with liberty to the petitioners to ﬁle appeals against the said orders. For a period of two weeks, respondent No.2 shall not ﬁnalise the leases, which are proposed to be given, in pursuance of the notification dated 10-10-2008. As a sequel to dismissal of the writ petition, WPMP.No.29588 of 2008 ﬁled by the petitioners for interim relief is dismissed as infructuous. _________________________ C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Dt:18.10.2008 Note:Communicate the operative portion by wire. bo usd