( 1 ) THIS writ petition is filed by former trustees of Sri Balaji Eswara Veerabhdra Swamy Temple (hereinafter called "the temple" for short), Tatikonda, Buthpur Mandal, Mahabubnagar District and persons, describing themselves as devotees of the temple.

( 2 ) THE petitioners assail the proceedings of the second respondent dated: 25-9-1992 whereby the second respondent has rejected the objections, inter alia, of the petitioners and has accorded permission to the Executive Officer of the temple to sell the certain specified lands by way of public auction, after following the rules in force.

( 3 ) THE temple is said to own 32. 00 acres of dry and wet lands, of which about 11. 09 gts is in the possession of the 5th respondent who has been a tenant of the said land since a considerable time. Since, the lands were not, in view of the of the Department, fetching adequate return, steps were initiated since the year 1980 to lease out the lands by way of auction in the first instance and thereafter that process not having reached fruition, to dispose of the lands by way of sale and in the process of such deliberations a decision was taken to dispose of the lands by way of sale to the sitting tenant (5th respondent ). This decision was taken by the State Government in G. O. Ms. No. 526 Revenue (Endowments II) Department dated: 15-6-1992 in purported exercise of powers available to it under Section 81 (c) of the A. P. Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (hereinafter called "the Act" for short ).

( 4 ) SUBSEQUENT to the said decision of the Government, the second respondent issued a notice dated: 28-2-1992 calling for objections from interested persons to the proposal to dispose of the land to the 5th respondent. Objections were submitted to the said proposal by the petitioners. By the impugned proceedings dated: 25-9-1992, the second respondent recorded the chronology of events leading to the decision of the Government contained in G. O. Ms. No. 526 dated; 15-6-1991 recorded the objections put-forth by the persons interested and having considered the said objections, rejected the same and accorded permission to the Executive Officer to sell the land in question by way of public auction after following the rules in force.

( 5 ) THE decision contained in the second respondent s proceedings dated 25-9-1992 was amended by issuance of errata in memo dated 18-1-1992 and by the said correction, a decision was taken to sell the land to the sitting tenant otherwise than by public auction. It is this decision of the second respondent set out in the proceedings dated 25-9-1992 has been assailed in the writ petition.

( 6 ) DURING the course of hearing, the orders of the State Government contained in G. O. Ms. No. 526 dated 15-6-1991 have been brought to the notice of this Court and the order of the Government having been considered in the context of legislative environment contained in Section 80 of the Act, this Court is constrained to come to the conclusion that the decision of the State Government set out in the Government Order has been arrived at without compliance with the substantive procedural discipline ordained by the legislation. Section 80 (1) of the Act, to the extent necessary is extracted hereunder:"80. Alienation of immovable property:- (1) (a) Any gift, sale, exchange or mortage of any immovable property belonging to or given or endowed for the purpose of any charitable or religious institution or endowment shall be null and void unless any such transaction, not being a gift, is affected with the prior sanction of the Commissioner. (b) The Commissioner may, after publishing in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette the particulars relating to the proposed transaction and inviting any objections and suggestions with the respect thereto and considering all objections and suggestions, if any, received from the trustee or other person having interest, accord such sanction where he considers that the