THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.25319 of 2009 ORDER: The relief sought for in this Writ Petition is to declare the inaction of respondents 1 and 2 in not paying compensation to the petitioner temple for acquisition of Ac.25.73 cts of dry land in Survey Nos. 21/1, 23/1 and 25 of Siddavaram Village, Kota Mandal, pursuant to the consent award No.19/2008-09, dated 09.04.2009, and in not passing an award for the fruit bearing cashew-nut trees and casuerina plantation standing in the land, and in seeking to make payment of compensation to respondents 3 to 5, as illegal, arbitrary and without jurisdiction. Consequential directions are sought against respondents 1 and 2 to forthwith pay the compensation awarded for the above said land to the petitioner-temple, to pass an award, and pay compensation to the petitioner temple for the fruit bearing cashew nut trees. The petitioner temple is said to have been established by the petitioner’s father Sri D. Sesha Reddy, in the year 1968 with his own funds. It is the petitioner-trustee’s case that he has been spending his own funds for the said purpose; he and his two brothers were the absolute owners of the land having purchased it under registered sale deed dated 12.09.1967; and, with an intention to provide a permanent source of revenue for the Nitya Deepa, Doopa Nyvedyam at the temple, the said extent of Ac.25.73 cts was gifted to the temple by them by way of registered gift deed dated 27.12.1971. On the ground that the compensation, payable for acquiring the said land belonging to the temple, was sought to be made over to the Endowments Department, the present Writ Petition is filed. For reasons hereinafter mentioned, it is wholly unnecessary for this Court to adjudicate the Writ Petition on its merits. Learned Government Pleader for Endowments would fairly state that, even if the petitioner temple were to have been registered under A.P. Act 30 of 1987, the compensation received, on acquisition of the land of the temple, is required in law to be deposited in the name of the temple. Learned Government Pleader apprehends that, if the said amount is deposited, it could possibly be withdrawn and misused by the petitioner-trustee. Sri P. Sridhar Reddy, Learned Counsel for the petitioner- temple, would submit that the deponent of the writ affidavit is the person who had donated the lands to the temple constructed by his father; there was no reason for him to now seek to withdraw the said amount; and it would suffice if this Court were to direct the Land Acquisition Officer to deposit the compensation amount, in the name of the temple, in a fixed deposit and permit the interest thereon to be utilized by the petitioner-trustee strictly for the purposes of the temple, with the additional safeguard that every such withdrawal shall be on prior written intimation to the concerned Assistant Commissioner of Endowments. I consider it appropriate, in such circumstances, to dispose of the Writ Petition directing the 2nd respondent to pay the compensation, determined by him, by way of an account payee cheque in the name of the temple, and hand over the cheque to the 5th respondent-Assistant Commissioner of Endowments within three weeks from today. The 5th respondent Assistant Commissioner shall, along with the petitioner-trustee, deposit the said cheque in a fixed deposit in a Nationalised bank, in the name of the temple, within two weeks thereafter. The amount of compensation shall be kept in fixed deposit for a period of three years and, till further orders from the 3rd respondent- Commissioner of Endowments, remain in a fixed deposit. The petitioner-trustee shall, however, be at liberty to withdraw the interest received, on the said fixed deposit, periodically and utilise it strictly for the purposes of the temple. Such withdrawal shall be on prior written intimation to the 5th respondent whose acknowledgement shall be obtained in proof thereof. The petitioner-trustee shall maintain proper accounts of the amount expended by him from out of such withdrawals, and the said accounts shall be periodically verified by the 5th respondent. In as much as the Land Acquisition Officer, in his counter- affidavit, has stated that an award would be separately passed with regards fruit bearing trees, I consider it appropriate to direct him to pass an award, in accordance with law, within a period of two months from today. The amount of compensation, if any, payable pursuant to the said award shall also be kept in a fixed deposit, and shall be utilized, in accordance with the directions hereinabove mentioned. This order shall remain in force till necessary action is taken by the 3rd respondent in accordance with the provisions of A.P. Act 30 of 1987. The Writ Petition stands disposed of accordingly. No costs. ____________________________ RAMESH RANGANATHAN,J Date: 29.10.2010 Note: Issue copy by one week. B/o MRKR