APHC010383952010 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI [3310]

(Special Original Jurisdiction)

FRIDAY ,THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF JANUARY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT THE HONOURABLE DR JUSTICE K MANMADHA RAO WRIT PETITION NO: 11577/2010& 17335/2010 WP No.11577/2010:

Between:

Gudivada Dharma Rao, and Others ...PETITIONER(S)

AND The Government Of A P and Others ...RESPONDENT(S)

Counsel for the Petitioner(S):

1. G KRISHNA MURTHY Counsel for the Respondent(S):

1. K MADHAVA REDDY (SC FOR ENDOWMENTS AR)

2. GP FOR ENDOWMENTS The Court made the following:

COMMON ORDER :

As the issue involved in both the writ petitions is one and the same, they are being taken up for hearing as well as disposed of by way of this Common Order.

2. Since the facts in all the writ petitions are similar and identical, therefore WP No.11577 of 2010 is taken as lead case, and the facts therein hereinafter will be referred to for convenience.

3. The facts of the case are that the 1^st respondent has issued auction notice dated 9.5.2007 proposing to conduct auction for grant of leasehold rights for a period of 3 years from 2007-20110 to an extent of Ac 24.83 cents including the lands which are under possession of the petitions. Immediately, the petitioners approached the 3^rd respondent with a request not to conduct any auction as their application is pending consideration before the authority. At that stage, the 3^rd respondent surprisingly served the copy of the order dated 19.01.2005 to the 1^st petitioner on 19.5.2007 rejecting his application on the ground that he is not a tenant basing on the alleged report of the Founder Family Member of the 4^th respondent temple. Accordingly, the petitioners approached this Court by way of filing WP No.10805/2007 questioning the auction notice dated 9.55.2007 issued by the 4^th respondent and in that writ petition, this High Court has granted interim direction. It is stated that the petitioners are cultivating the lands which are under their possession as usual and paying makta to the 4^th respondent temple regularly without any default and the petitioners have paid an amount of Rs.10,000/- in the month of December 2009 towards part payment in E.P.No.296/2009 in O.S No.28/1999. Further, the petitioners are regularly paying land revenue to the Government and obtaining receipts.

While the things stood thus, the 4^th respondent temple issued a notification dated 3.5.2010 proposing to conduct auction for grant of lease hold rights for an extent of Ac 28.00 cents including the lands which are under the possession of the petitioners for a period of 3 years from May 2010 to April 2013 without issuing any notice to the petitioners. Thereafter the petitioners made representations. During pendency of the said representations, the 4^th respondent has fixed the schedule to conduct auction on 19.5.2010, which is illegal and arbitrary. Hence the present writ petition.

4. This Court vide order dated 19.05.2010 in WPMP No.14675 of 2010 in WP No.11577 of 2010 has granted interim direction as under:

“……such is the situation, there shall be a direction to the petitioners to submit a representation to the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments claiming the status of landless poor within a period of one week and the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments shall dispose of the representation within two weeks thereafter. Till the disposal of the representation, auction, if any, held shall not be confirmed. The arrears, if any, by the petitioners as on this date shall be paid within four weeks from today.”

5. In pursuance of the same, the petitioners submitted application on

26.5.2010 to the 3^rd respondent-Assistant Commissioner stating that they were landless poor and they are not owning any lands of their own except the lands in their possession and enjoyment of the temple lands of an extent of Ac 1.94 cents and Ac 2.50 cents respectively and requesting him to conduct enquiry and issue certificate under the provisions of Section 82(2) r/w Rules in G.O.Ms.