Judgment

S.R. DAS, CJI. : The three appeals are directed against the judgment and order pronounced by a Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on 20-11-1957, whereby three writ petitions, namely, No. 1 of 1956, No. 19 of 1957 and No. 470 of 1957, which had been filed by the appellant and were heard together, were dismissed with costs. These appeals have been filed with certificates granted by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

2. The circumstances under which the three writ petitions came to be filed by the appellant may now be narrated. It is alleged that on 10-1-1942, an agreement was entered into between the Rajah of Venkatagiri and one Sri Balumuri Nageswara Rao whereby the Rajah agreed to give annual leases in respect of certain slate quarries within his estate for five years in succession commencing from February 1942 if the Rajah was satisfied with the work carried on by the lessee during the preceding year. It was further stipulated that if the leases were given continuously for five years, then the lessee would be entitled at the end of the fifth year to obtain a lease from the Rajah for a period of 20 years commencing from the termination of the fifth year. On the expiry of