In exercise of the powers conferred by section 82 read with sub-section (1) of Section 153 of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (A.P. Act No.30 of 1987) the Governor of Andhra Pradesh hereby makes the following Rules with immediate effect, as the same having been issued previously in G.O.Ms.No.947, Revenue (Endts.I) Department, dated 18.11.2002 and published in the Rules Supplement to Part-1, Extraordinary of the Andhra Pradesh Gazette No.57, dated me 26th November, 2002 as required under sub-section (1) of Section 153 of the said Act.

Read full Act

R.1 Short Title and Application

(1) These Rules may be called the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Lease of Agricultural Lands Rules, 2003.

(2) These rules shall apply to all leases of Agricultural lands, belonging to Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments governed by the provisions of the Act.

R.2 Definitions

In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) 'Act' means the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987

(2) "Competent Authority" means the competent authorities are those that are mentioned in sub-rule (2) of Rule-16 of these Rules.

(3) "Executive Authority" means a person who is entrusted with the management of the affairs of any particular Charitable or Hindu Religious Institution or Endowment and includes an Executive Officer, Board of Trustees, Managing Trustee, Mathadhipathi or person appointed under Section 52 of the Act and Person-in-Management or any person who is lawfully managing the institution or endowment.

(4) Words used but not defined under these Rules shall have the same meaning as de


R.3 Determination of Landless poor person

(1) Immediately after coming into force of these Rules, if any cultivating tenant claims to be a landless poor person, the Assistant Commissioner having territorial Jurisdiction shall enquire into and decide whether the cultivating tenant is a landless poor person as defined in Section 82 after giving a reasonable opportunity to the cultivating tenant and to the Executive Authority of the concerned institution or Endowment.

(2) If the cultivating tenant does not claim to be a landless poor person or if the Assistant Commissioner concerned determines that the cultivating tenant is a landless poor person, the tenancy will be deemed to have been cancelled with effect from 28.5.1987 and the cultivating tenant shall be regarded as a tenant holding over thereafter.

* [(3) Notwithstanding anything contained under sub-rule (2), where a small farmer, being a lessee is holding land in excess of Ac.0.25 cents wet land or


R.4 Appeals

Any Person aggrieved by the decision or order made or passed under rule-3 may prefer an appeal to the Regional joint Commissioner having jurisdiction within thirty days from the date of receipt of decision or order by him. The decision or order of the Regional Joint Commissioner in this regard shall be final.




R.5 Issue of Notice

(1) A Notice in Form No.I annexed to these Rules shall be issued to the cultivating tenant (other than a landless poor person) duly informing him that the lease held by him stood cancelled by virtue of the provisions in sub-section (1) of section 82 of the Act, and that the lease hold rights in respect of the said lands are proposed to be leased out as per Rules and calling upon him to forthwith handover possession of the lands failing which he shall be evicted invoking the provisions under Sections 84, 85 and 86 of the Act, treating him as an encroacher in the order passed under Section 83(4) of the Act.

(2) In the case of the land held by the landless poor person as tenant as per sub-section (2) of Section 82, a Notice shall be issued in the Form No.II annexed to these Rules. He shall be given an option either to purchase the leased land or such portion thereof as he desires in accordance with the c


R.6 Sale of land to Landless poor person

(1) The sale consideration specified in sub-section (2) of Section 82, shall be paid by the landless poor person in four equal instalments. The first installment shall be paid within thirty days of the receipt of Notice in Form II. The remaining instalments shall be paid with interest at 6% on or before the expiry of one year, two years and three years respectively from the date prescribed for the first instalament. Any default shall entail cancellation of the sale and obligate the person to handover possession. On the payment of the full purchase price only, he shall be deemed to be the owner of the land.

(2) The landless poor person shall not be competent to alienate the land purchased by him within a period of five years from the date of purchase i.e., date of payment of the full consideration with interest.




R.7 Leases by Public auction

(1) All leases shall be by public auction:

Provided that the Competent Authority may on a request made in writing by the Executive Authority, permit the lease of any property otherwise than by public auction, if he is satisfied, for reasons to be recorded in writing, that the suggested procedure is necessary and in the interests of the institution or Endowment.

(2) The Competent Authority may also on a request made in writing by the Executive Authority, permit him to call for sealed Tenders to be received before the date of auction and in such a case. Tenders received, if any, shall be opened before the public at the place of auction. The highest amount offered in the Tenders or public auction, as the case may be, shall be taken into consideration for the purpose of finalizing the highest bid.

(3) The Public Auction shall be held at a convenient place in the village where the properties are situated o


R.8 Lease Period

(1) No lease shall be granted for a period exceeding three years.

(2) (a) Where it is proposed lo grant a lease for a period exceeding the limit specified in sub-rule (1), the Executive Authority shall obtain the prior permission of the Commissioner even before causing publication of the Notice under Rule-11 of these Rules.

(b) (i) In the case of long term lease, the Commissioner on receipt of the proposal from the Executive Authority, shall invite objections and suggestions for the proposed long term lease from interested parties through a public Notice published in a vernacular daily having circulation in the locality. The notice shall specify the date before which such objections and suggestions are to be received.

(ii) The Commissioner shall after considering the objections and suggestions, if any, received may accord or refuse permission for leasing out the land for a period no


R.9 Terms and Conditions of the Lease

(a) The Executive Authority of the Institution may, subject to the provisions of these Rules and the instructions issued by the Commissioner, from time to time, in this behalf, decide the terms and conditions of the lease;

(b) The conditions of lease shall specify the following:-

(i) The security to be furnished by the lessee;

.(ii) The mode of payment of the rent;

(iii) The surcharge or compensation, if any, to be imposed for default in payment of rent or for violation of any conditions of lease.

(c) The lessee shall utilize the land for agricultural purpose only and that he shall not utilize the said land for any non-agricultural or other purposes like residential or industrial or commercial purpose;

(d) The lessee shall not raise the crop other than the crop for which the land has been leased out and that


R.10 Contents of Auction Notice

(a) The auction notice shall, contain the following particulars :-

(1) The particulars of the extent of land, proposed to be leased out like nature of land, wet or dry, survey number, boundaries etc.,

(2) The period of lease;

(3) The earnest money that should be deposited before participating in the auction;

(4) The general terms and conditions governing the lease including payment of rent :-

(5) The particulars of any security to be furnished by the successful bidder and the time within which such security should be furnished;

(6) The Liability of the lessee in the event of cancellation of auction or re-auction or lease where he -

(i) fails to furnish the requisite security or to execute the lease deed in the required Form within the time fixed;

(ii) commits


R.11 Publication of Auction Notice

A copy of the auction notice shall be published in the language of the locality at least ten days prior to the date fixed for auction, by affixture

(i) on the Notice board or on the front door of the Institution concerned, or in the case of a specific endowment, on the notice board or on the front door of the Office of the Institution to which the property in question is attached;

(ii) The contents of the auction notice shall be published, by beat of tom tom in the inhabited area of the Gram Panchayat in which the lands are situate, and also by distributing pamphlets about the proposed auction :

(iii) The Executive Authority should ensure adequate publicity for the auction in all appropriate ways.




R.12 Conduct of Auction

(1) The auction shall be conducted by the Executive Officer of the Institution or Endowment concerned. If there is no Executive Officer, the auction shall be conducted by the Chairmen 'of the Board of Trustees or any other person who is in-charge of management.

(2) At every auction conducted under sub-rule (1), there shall be present such Departmental Officer as may be deputed by the Competent authority who shall oversee the proceedings and ensure that the auction is duly conducted in accordance with the Act and Rules.




R.13 Auction Deposit

Where the notice of auction specifies that any earnest money shall be deposited as security by the bidders, the deposit shall be made before the commencement of the auction. Any person who fails to make such deposit or a person who has committed a default in any previous auction shall not be permitted to bid at the auction.




R.14 Acceptance of Bid

Leases shall ordinarily be given to the highest bidder. Where it is proposed to accept a bid other than the highest bid, reasons for not accepting the highest or other bids higher than the accepted shall be recorded in writing by the Executive Authority. The acceptance of the bid shall be subject to the approval of the competent authority.




R.15 Solvency

The solvency of the successful bidder shall in all cases be verified before the proposal for confirmation of lease is made.




R.16 Approval or disapproval of leases

(1) All leases, shall be reported to the competent authority, who may either confirm, or for reasons to be recorded in writing disapprove the lease.

(2) The Competent Authority for this purpose shall be:-

(i) Commissioner, for institutions managed by the Executive Officers of the cadre of Regional Joint Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner and Maths, the annual income of which exceeds Rupees Ten lakhs.

(ii) Additional Commissioner for the institutions managed by the Executive Officers of the cadre of the Assistant commissioner and Maths, the annual income of which exceeds Rupees five lakhs but does not exceed Rupee Ten lakhs;

(iii) Regional Joint Commissioner for the institutions and endowments published under clause (a) of Section 6 and managed by Executive Officers other than Regional Joint Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner Cadre a


R.17 Security

In the case of all leases, the tenant should furnish security to the satisfaction of the Executive Authority. Such security shall, in all cases of leases, be a sum equal to at least one year's rental or unencumbered immovable property equal in value to three year's rental.




R.18 Lease Deed

(1) All lease deeds shall be in writing and shall be duly stamped and registered wherever so required by law at the expense of the lessee (tenant);

(2) No person shall be placed in possession of the leased land or allowed to exercise his rights under the lease until he has executed the lease deed and complied with the applicable requirements of these Rules.




R.19 Validity of Lease

Any lease granted, continued or allowed to be continued otherwise than in accordance with these Rules shall be null and void and the person or persons in possession of the land shall be deemed to be an encroacher within the meaning of Section 83 of the Act.




R.20 Termination of Lease

Without prejudice to other obligations, a lease may be cancelled if the tenant does not comply with any of the terms, without prejudice to the right to recover arrears of rent. The security may also be forfeited.