IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD FRIDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN PRESENT THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.13617 of 2007 Between: D. Ranga Reddy & 6 others .... Petitioners And Sri Chennakesava Swamy, Sri Anjaneya Swamy and Eswara Swamy Devastanam & another ....Respondents The Court made the following: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.13617 of 2007 ORDER: The petitioners herein were aggrieved by the notice dated 15.06.2007 issued by Sri Chennakesava Swamy, Sri Anjaneya Swamy and Eswara Swamy Devastanam, Kuluru Village, Rajupalem Mandal, Cuddapah District, proposing to auction the leasehold rights of various lands for a period of three years. The complaint of the petitioners was that their lands situated in various sub-divisions of Survey Nos.350 and 354 of Kuluru village were also sought to be put to auction. 2. This Court, by order dated 02.07.2007 granted interim suspension of the impugned notice dated 15.06.2007 insofar as it pertained to the subject lands. 3. It is now stated by Sri M. Vidya Sagar, learned counsel for the petitioners, that the lease period reserved under the impugned auction notice has worked itself out and therefore, the Writ Petition has become infructuous to that extent. He however submitted that the core issue as to whether the respondent temple had any rights over the subject lands still remains to be resolved. This issue cannot be decided by this Court in exercise of writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. This dispute is amenable to resolution under Section 87(1)(c) of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (for short, “the Act”). It is brought to my notice that the petitioners have already invoked the above remedy by filing O.A.No.12 of 2005 before the Deputy Commissioner of Endowments, Kurnool. Now that the Endowments Tribunal has been constituted, the said O.A. would have to be decided by the Tribunal. The Tribunal is also empowered under Section 87(2) of the Act to grant interim orders if necessary. That being so, the petitioners can pursue their remedy before the Tribunal. It is the apprehension of the learned counsel for the petitioners that the temple may resort to auctioning leasehold rights over his clients’ lands again. In such an eventuality, it would always be open to the petitioners to seek appropriate interim relief from the Tribunal under Section 87(2) of the Act in their pending O.A. 4. The Writ Petition is accordingly closed. There shall be no order as to costs. _________________ SANJAY KUMAR, J Date: 1st July, 2011 KL THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.13617 of 2007 Date: 1st July, 2011 KL