- (1.) These writ petitions, arose out of a common set of facts and seek identical reliefs and hence they are heard together. Writ Petition No. 18083 of 2003 was filed by Sri Vijaya Bhavani Adarsha Mahila Mandali, Sujatha Nagar, Bypass road, Ongole, a society registered under the provisions of Societies Registration Act 21 of 1860; Writ Petition No. 11063 of 2004 is instituted by an individual Sri P. Ravindranath, a devotee of Sri Kasi Visveswara Swamy Vari Temple (Sivalayam) at Ongole and Writ Petition No. 21438 of 2004 of 2004 was instituted by Sri Nalluri Kishore, another devotee of the temple.
(2.) Sri Kasi Visveswara Swamy Vari Temple was an ancient Sivalayam at Ongole town. It was endowed with land of an extent of Ac. 26.50 cents in Survey No. 225 of Ongole town. There were also several other parcels of lands endowed to the said temple but, those lands were acquired by the State for various public purposes, such as for Nagarjuna Sagar Project and also for providing house sites to eligible beneficiaries. As of now, land of an extent of Ac. 26.50 cents situate at Survey No. 225 was available, but however it was not yielding much value by way of return to the temple. This land is sought to be alienated in favour of the Ongole Taluka Non Gazetted Officers House Building Co-operative Society (For brevity, 'the N.G.Os. House Building Society'), Ongole and Prakasam District Economically Backward Classes Mahila Mandali, Ongole to the extent of Ac. 22.44 cents and Ac. 4.06 cents respectively. Coming to know of this development, the petitioner Society in W.P. No. 18083 of 2003 has objected to it and offered more price than offered by the aforementioned two Societies.
(3.) It is stated that, the State Government passed orders in their G.O.Ms. No. 954, Revenue (Endowments-IV) Department, dated 11.09.2003, accepting the proposal of the Collector, Prakasam District for allotting the land admeasuring Ac. 22.44 cents belonging to Sri Kasi Visveswara Swamy Vari Temple, Ongole Town, Prakasam District in favour of the members of the N.G.Os. House Building Society, for providing house sites after following the procedure and in accordance with the provisions contained in Act 30 of 1987 and Rules framed there under, subject to payment of present market value. It is further stated that the market value was got ascertained from the Collector, Prakasam District, who valued the same as Rs. 6,00,000/- per acre. Based thereon, the Commissioner of Endowments passed orders on 22.04.2004 directing the Executive Officer of the Temple to collect the market value as fixed by the Collector, Prakasam District for the total extent of land of Ac. 22.44 cents situate in Survey No. 225 belonging to the Temple from the N.G.Os House Building Society, at the rate of Rs. 6,00,000/- per acre and to report compliance for taking further necessary action in the matter. These two orders are profoundly opposed by the petitioners in these writ petitions.;