HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.11521 of 2008 Date: July 08, 2011 Between: Jagathi Sundaramma … Petitioner And 1. The Assistant Commissioner of Endowments, West Godavari District at Eluru & another. … Respondents * * * HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.11521 of 2008 O R D E R: The petitioner, claiming to be a tenant of Sri Venugopala Swamy Vari Devasthanam, Gopavaram village, Nidadavole Mandal, West Godavari District, in respect of an extent of land admeasuring Ac.4.26 cents situated in R.S.No.53/1 of the village, filed the present writ petition assailing the auction notice dated 23.5.2008 issued by the Devasthanam for auctioning leasehold rights in respect of the subject land. 2. This Court, by order dated 29.5.2008, granted interim stay of further proceedings pursuant to the auction notice dated 23.5.2008 for a period of four weeks. The Government and the Devasthanam filed vacate stay applications seeking the vacation of the above order. Taking note of the fact that the interim stay was for a limited period of time and expired automatically thereafter, the miscellaneous petitions were disposed of by this Court on 04.02.2011 recording the same. The petitioner then filed W.P.M.P. No.9177 of 2011 stating that she had failed to get the interim order extended by oversight and that she realized the same only when the Devasthanam proposed to conduct an auction in respect of the leasehold rights over the land on 26.3.2011. She further stated that she had raised Sugarcane crop in the said land and if the auction was held as proposed, she would be put to irreparable loss and prejudice. She therefore prayed for stay of all further proceedings including the proposed auction to be held on 26.3.2011. 3. This Court, by order dated 25.3.2011, disposed of the said application. Taking note of the fact that the petitioner’s husband’s application to be recognized as a landless poor person under Section 82 of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987, had been rejected under proceedings dated 06.7.2006, whereby the resumption of the subject land was also ordered and as this proceeding attained finality as it was not questioned by the petitioner or her husband, this Court opined that the petitioner could not claim a better status than her husband and that she was not a cultivating tenant in her own right. However, as the petitioner’s Sugarcane crop was yet to be harvested, the petitioner was permitted to do so before the end of May 2011. The respondent authorities were granted liberty to take suitable steps for recovery of the possession of the land thereafter and put it to public auction in accordance with law. The petitioner then filed W.P.M.P. No.18928 of 2011 seeking extension of time by a period of three more months for vacating the land. While so, the learned standing counsel for the respondent-Devasthanam stated that the possession of the subject land was taken on 09.6.2011 after the petitioner harvested the standing crop and the leasehold rights over the subject land were put to auction on 20.6.2011 fetching a highest bid of Rs.1,05,000/-. 4. In the light of the aforestated developments, it is clear that the petitioner’s challenge to the action of the respondent-Devasthanam in seeking to auction leasehold rights over the subject land and her prayer to be continued as a tenant in the said land cannot be countenanced. The issue having been settled by the proceedings of the Assistant Commissioner, Endowments Department, Eluru, West Godavari District, dated 06.7.2006 which have attained finality, it is no longer open to the petitioner to claim any rights over the subject land. 5. The writ petition is devoid of merit and is accordingly dismissed. Miscellaneous petitions shall stand dismissed in consequence. No order as to costs. ___________________ SANJAY KUMAR, J Date: July 08, 2011. BSB