MARUGUMALLI SAMYULU Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner claims to be the cultivating tenant of Ac.1.00 cents of wet land belonging to the 4th respondent-temple in Sy.No.903 of Santhamaguluru Village and Mandal, Prakasam District. The petitioner submitted a representation to the 2nd respondent to declare the petitioner as a landless poor person, so that the petitioner could continue as cultivating tenant of the Ac.1.00 acres of land in possession. This application was rejected by the 3rd respondent, by proceedings dtd. 3/8/2006. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner filed Appeal No.30 of 2006 which was rejected by the 2nd respondent on 6/2/2008. Against the said order of rejection, the petitioner filed W.P.No.9923 of 2008 before the erstwhile High Court of A.P which was disposed of by remanding the appeal to the 2nd respondent for fresh consideration. Thereafter, the 2nd respondent had again rejected the appeal by an order dtd. 28/6/2010 which is assailed in the present writ petition.

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner and his family have been cultivating the land for more than the required six years prior to the coming in to force of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (for short, 'the Act, 1987'). The petitioner contends that a tenant who holds less than Ac.2.50 cents of wet land or Ac.5.00 cents of dry land respectively shall be entitled to be declared as a landless poor person in terms of Sec.82 of the Act, 1987 and the order of the 2nd respondent rejecting his application despite the fact that he falls squarely within the said definition is untenable and needs to be set-aside.

(3.) The 2nd respondent, after giving adequate opportunity to the petitioner, had held that -