IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 20876 of 2008 Between: 1 Chimala Satyam S/o.Late Ramulu R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 2 Revalla Pydamma W/o.Late Krishna Murthy R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 3 Chimala Musali Naidu S/o.Late Appadu R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 4 Chimala Taviti Naidu S/o.Late Laxmayya R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 5 Revalla Chandra RAo S/o.Late Chinnappadu R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 6 Chimala Swamy Naidu S/o.Late Pydithalli R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 7 Vetcha Venkata Satyanarayana S/o.Late Venkata Ramanayya R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 8 Vetcha Venkata Srinivasa Rao S/o.late Swamulu R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 9 Vetch Venkata Rama Rao S/o.late Swamulu R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District 10 Chimala Seethamma W/o.Dali Naidu R/o.Gadasam village Dattirajeru Mandal Vizianagaram District ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 The Assistant Commissioner,Endowments, Vizianagaram 2 Sri Venkateswara Swmay Varu Devasthanam,. Bhyripuram village,Merakmuddin Mandal Vizianagaram District,rep.by its Trustee Badam Sreerama Murthy .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 to issue an appropriate writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ ofmandamus declaring the action of the respondent authorities in issuing public notice dated 10.9.2008 for auctioning the lands in Sy.Nos.1-3,4-5,4-3,8-2,1-2,5-2,9-6,9-1,1-3,1-3,1-1.4-4,9-4,4-4,9- 2,5-3,and 9-3, in an extent of Ac.2.30 cents Ac.0.80 cents, Ac.0.30 cents Ac.2.00 cents Ac.0.70, cents Ac.0.77, cents Ac.1.28 cents Ac.0.85 cents Ac.1.20 cents Ac.0.77 cents Ac.0.30,cents,and Ac.0.59 cents respectively under the possession of the petitioners as arbitrary, illegal, null and void and against the principles of natural jsutice and violative of provisions under section 82 of AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act,1987 and the rules made thereunder and consequently direct the respondent authorities to pass appropriate orders determining the petiitoners status in regard to landless poor persons and to pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.BALAJI MEDAMALLI Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR ENDOWMENTS The Court made the following : . THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 20876 of 2008 ORDER: The petitioners claim to be the lessees of various extents of land owned by Sri Venkateswara Swamy Vari Devastanam, Bhyripuram Village, Merakamudidam Mandal, 2nd respondent herein, for the last several years. The 2nd respondent had issued a tender-cum- auction notice, dated 10.09.2008, proposing to conduct auction of leasehold rights in respect of Ac.33.36 cents of land, including those under the cultivation of the petitioners. The said notiﬁcation is challenged in this writ petition. The petitioners contend that their longstanding possession cannot be ignored and that they are entitled to be recognized as landless poor, as provided for under Section 82 of the A.P. Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act 30 of 1987 (for short ‘the Act’). Certain other grounds are also urged. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners, learned Government Pleader for Endowments appearing for respondent No.1 and the learned Standing Counsel for 2nd respondent. The petitioners do not dispute that they are the tenants of the 2nd respondent, in respect of the lands under their cultivation. Any doubt, in this regard, is clariﬁed with the compromise decree in O.S.No.27 of 1973, on the ﬁle of the Sub-ordinate Judge, Vizianagaram. The petitioners agreed to continue as tenants. Irrespective of the nature or tenure of the tenancies over the lands held by the religious institutions, they stood terminated by operation of Section 82 of the Act. The limited facility provided in respect of landless poor can be extended to the petitioners, only in case, they are declared by the 1st respondent as such. It is not even alleged that the petitioners have so far approached the 1st respondent seeking a declaration that they are land less poor, much less, any order was passed in their favour. The only alternative left for the 2nd respondent is to put the leasehold rights to auction, wherein the petitioners can also participate. Therefore, no exception can be taken to the impugned notice. Hence, the writ petition is disposed of, upholding the impugned auction notice, on condition that it shall be open to the petitioners to participate in the auction; and they shall be granted fresh lease, in case they emerge as the highest bidders, or they express their willingness to pay the amount quoted by the highest bidder. If the situation does not warrant grant of fresh lease in favour of the petitioners, they shall be entitled to harvest the standing crop and such of the land, not covered by any crop, shall be liable to be resumed immediately. These steps shall, however, be without prejudice to the rights of the petitioners, in case, they get themselves declared as landless poor. There shall be no order as to costs. _________ 24.09.2008 Note: Issue operative portion of the order by wire at party’s costs. (B/o) JSU .... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{TRK} THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 20876 of 2008 Date: 24.09.2008 JSU