IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE NINTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No. 20389 of 2007 Between: 1 Isnaka Ramachandra Reddy S/o Venki Reddy 2 I. Sudhakar Reddy S/o Balaram Reddy 3 P. Rathnaiah S/o Chenchaiah 4 E. Prabhakar Reddy S/o Chenchu Reddy 5 P. Ramana Reddy S/o P,. Nagi Reddy 6 P. Vijayasena Reddy S/o Gopal Reddy 7 B. Lakshmaiah S/o Ramanaiah 8 I. Vijayasena Reddy S/o Balrami Reddy (all are R/o Epuru Village, Mutkur Mandal, Nellore District) ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 Sri Chennakesava Swamy Vari Devastanam, Epuru Village, Mutkur Mandal, Nellore District, rep by its Manager,. 2 The Assistnat Commissioner of Endowments, Nellore, nellore District .....RESPONDENTS 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 a Writ, order or direction, more particularly a writ in the nature of Certiorari calling for the records relating to the impugned proceedings issued by the 1st respondent by his Notice dated 16-09-2007 to auction the lease-hold rights of the lands in Various survey numbers belonging to the 1st respondent temple ie. Sri Chennakesava Swamy VAri Devastanam, Epuru Village, Muthkur Mandal, Nellore District, as bad, illegal, arbitrary and oppose to law and in gross violation of natural justice and the petitioners herein pray that the same may be quashed and pass such other order or orders as the Hon'ble Court may deem ﬁt and proper. Counsel for the Petitioners: MR.M.VIDYASAGAR Counsel for the Respondents: MR.V.T.M.PRASAD The Court made the following ORDER: The petitioners were granted lease over an extent of Acs.14.00 of land, owned by Sri Chennakesava Swamy Vari Devasthanam, Epuru Village, Mutkur Mandal, Nellore District, the ﬁrst respondent herein, in the year 2002, for a period of three years. After expiry of lease, the respondents issued an auction notice, dated 16.09.2007, proposing to conduct public auction of the leasehold rights, on 26.09.2007. The petitioners challenge the said notice. They contend that though their lease had expired, they cannot be evicted from the land otherwise than through the procedure prescribed under Section 83 of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (for short ‘the Act’). Respondents 1 and 2 ﬁled separate counter- affidavits. It is stated that the auction of leasehold rights was held only after expiry of lease in favour of the petitioners and the possession of the land was handed over to the successful bidders on 26.09.2007. Heard Sri M.Vidya Sagar, the learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri V.T.M.Prasad, the learned Sanding Counsel for the ﬁrst respondent and the learned Government Pleader for Endowments for the second respondent. It is not in dispute that the petitioners were inducted into possession of the land as tenants in the year 2002, on the basis of a public auction conducted for this purpose. The lease was for a period of three years. On expiry of the same, an auction notice was issued. The plea of the petitioners appears to be that they intend to continue in possession of the land, even after expiry of the lease and it is for the respondents to treat them as encroachers and invoke the procedure prescribed under Section 83 of the Act. The necessity to examine this plea or the occasion to verify the correctness of the contention of the petitioner is obviated, on account of the fact that they are no longer in possession of the land. Not only the auction was conducted on 26.09.2007, but also the successful bidders were inducted into possession immediately thereafter. Hence, nothing remains to be decided in this writ petition. Therefore, the writ petition is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________ L.NARASIMHA REDDY,J Dt:09.09.2008 kdl