( 1 ) THE petitioners in all these writ petitions are tenants or occupiers of certain lands. In these writ petitions, the petitioners have called in question the order of the Government, passed in exercise of its power under Section 80 of the A. P. Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (for short the act ). The common questions of fact and that of law arise for consideration in this batch of writ petitions. Therefore, they are clubbed and heard together and they are being disposed of by this common judgment.

( 2 ) THERE is no dispute between the parties that the petitioners are the tenants or atleast occupiers of the lands in question. There is also no dispute between the parties that the lands in question come under the purview of the Act. The Government by the impugned orders has accorded permission for the sale of the lands in favour of Social Welfare department for the purpose of making house sites for the weaker sections of the society.

( 3 ) SRI K. V. Satyanarayana, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in some of these writ petitions and who led the arguments contended that the permission granted by the Government is voidab initio inasmuch as the second respondent did not go through the procedure envisaged under clause (b) of sub-section 1 of Section 80 of the Act. In the counter filed by the official respondents, it is contended that the provisions of Section 80 of the Act are not mandatory and even otherwise the provisions under section 80 of the Act is exempted under section 154 of the Act. At this stage itself it is relevant to note that no order of the government made under Section 154 of the act granting exemption from the operation of the provisions of Section 80 of the Act is made available to the Court. Sub-section 1 of Section 80 of the Act reads as under:" (A) Any gift, sale, exchange or mortgage of any immovable property belonging to or given or endowed for the purpose of any charitable or religious institution of 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 transaction is (i) prudent and necessary or beneficial to the institution or endowment. (ii) in respect of immovable property which is uneconomical for the institution or endowment to own and maintain; and (iii) the consideration therefor is adequate and proper. (c) Every sale of any such immovable property sanctioned by the Commissioner under clause (b) shall be effected by tender-cum-public auction in the prescribed manner subject to the confirmation by thecommissionerwithin a period prescribed. "provided that the Government may, in the interest of the institution orendowment and for reasons to be recorded therefor in writing, permit the sale of such immovable property, otherwise than by public auction; provided further that the Government may purchase the lands situated in scheduled Areas belongingto institutions or endowments, wherever necessary, otherwise than by public auction and assign such lands to the members of the scheduled Tribes. Explanation:- In this section, the expression "scheduled Tribe" shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (25) of Article 366 of the Constitution and the expression scheduled Area shall have the meaning assigned to it in sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 6 of the 8th schedule to the Constitution of India.

( 4 ) THE reading of Clause (a) makes it very clear that any alienation of the movable property without prior sanction of the commissioner will be null and void. Audi alterampartem principle mandates that the af