Writ Petition No. 11424 of 2010 is filed by one Duvvur Niranjan Reddy seeking a writ of mandamus for declaring the action of the 1st respondent, namely the Executive Officer, Sri Kailasanatha Swamy Temple, Brahmadevam Village, Muthukur Mandal, Nellore District, in auctioning the petitioner’s land to an extent of Ac.7-75 cents in Survey Nos. 203, 204 and 205 situate at Brahmadevam Village, Muthukur Mandal, Nellore District, scheduled to be held on 19-05-2010 at 10-00 am or thereafter, as per the notice dated 05-05-2010, as illegal.

Writ Petition No. 30936 of 2013 has been filed by one Sri B. Seenaiah, seeking a writ of mandamus for declaring the action of the 2nd respondent, namely, Sri Kailasanatha Swamy Temple, represented by its Executive Officer, Brahmadevam Village, Muthukur Mandal, Nellore District, in auctioning the petitioner’s land to an extent of Ac.6-38 cents in Survey No.207 situate at Brahmadevam Village, Muthukur Mandal, Nellore District, pursuant to the notice dated 24-10-2013, by auctions to be held on 06-11-2013 at 10-00 am or subsequently, as illegal.

The petitioner in the first writ petition has claimed that land of an extent of Ac.7-75 cents situate in Survey Nos. 203, 204 and 205 situate at Brahmadevam Village belonging to Sri Kailasanatha Swamy Temple in the village was leased out to him as early as in the year 1995 and he has been cultivating the said land as a lessee by paying the Maktha to the 1st respondent temple every year. It was claimed by him that the lease has been extended from time to time, but however, the 1st respondent has issued notice on 05-05-2010 proposing to grant the licence to cultivate the land in question by way of a public auction to be held on 19-05-2010. Hence, he instituted the said writ petition challenging the validity of the notice. So far as the petitioner in the second writ petition is concerned, it is his case that land of an extent of Ac.6-38 cents in Survey No. 207 situate at Brahmadevam Village belonging to Sri Kailasanatha Swamy Temple has been leased out to his fore-fathers long back. They have been cultivating the said land from a very very long time and that he has been paying the annual Maktha at Rs.59,000/- to the said Devasthanam and in spite of his prompt payment of Maktha, the Devasthanam has taken out a notification on 24-10-2013, proposing to grant licence for cultivating this very land, by public auction, for a period of three years, commencing from 2013-2014 and hence, this writ petition has been instituted.

In both the cases, the respective petitioner set out that as per Section 82 of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions & Endowments Act, 1987 (henceforth referred to as ‘the Act’), the leases held by landless poor persons are saved from cancellation and that the State Government has formulated a scheme through their G.O.Ms.No.379, Revenue (Endowments) Department, dated 11-03-2003, indicating the procedure to be followed for the purpose of determining the status of a landless poor person. The case of the petitioners is that without following the procedure, the respondents are proceeding further in the matter by proposing to conduct the necessary auctions.

It will be relevant to notice Sub-section (1) of Section 82 of the Act, which reads as under:

“Any lease of agricultural land belonging to or given or endowed for the purpose of any institution or endowment subsisting on the date of commencement of this Act shall, notwithstanding anything in any other law for the time being in force, held by a person who is not a landless poor person stands cancelled.”

So long as they are not held by a landless poor person, the purpose and intent of this Provision is to cancel all leases, which are subsisting as on the date when the provision has been brought into force, excepting such leases, which are held by the landless poor persons. Sub-section (2) confers certain advantages upon landless poor persons. It provided a landless poor person,