VUMMALANENI SAROJA Vs. TENALI MUNICIPALITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner seeks a Writ of Mandamus to set aside the leasehold rights granted in favour of the 2nd respondent by the 1st respondent in respect of Ac.11_00 of land including 39 coconut trees in D.Nos.468/2, 469/2, 477 and 483 situate in Nelapadu village, within the limits of Tenali Municipality, Guntur District.

(2.) The brief facts, according to the petitioner, are: The Tenali Municipality is having Ac.11-00 of wet land situate in D.Nos.468/2, 469/2, 476/2,477 and 483 in Nelapadu village which is within the limits of Tenali Municipality. That land was acquired for storage of drainage water of Tenali Municipality. As the drainage scheme is not yet finalised, the land is not being utilised for the said purpose. The land is usually called as 'drainage land The Tenali Municipality used to lease out the land to third parties every year to raise paddy crop and collect the lease amount. On 19-2-2000, the Municipality issued a Gazette notification calling for applications for conducting auction of leasehold rights of the land along with other items. The auction conditions are governe4 by the A.P. Municipalities (Regulation of Receipts and Expenditure) Rules, 1968 issued by the Government in G.O.Ms. No.686, Municipal Administration Department, dated 30-7-1968. According to the petitioner, clause (6) of Rule 7 of the above rules governs the auction. One of the conditions of auction is that the auction will be knocked down in favour of the highest bidder and he shall also produce solvency certificate to prove his ability that he has capacity to fulfil the auction conditions. The lease is from 1-5-2000 to 30-4-2001. The auction was conducted in the first week of April 2000 and the petitioner was declared as the highest bidder as she offered Rs.54,000/-. The petitioner and one Gummadi Bhavannarayana are the only participants in the auction. Petitioner states that after the bid was knocked down in her favour, one Thota Sambasivarao, a resident of Ramalingeswarapeta of Tenali made a representation to the 1st respondent on 9-4-2000 stating that he is prepared to pay a sum of Rs.70,000/ towards the lease amount. Pursuant to this, 1st respondent directed the said Sambasivarao to deposit the bid amount within 24 hours in his Rc.No.201/2000/A dated 11-4-2000. But, he failed to deposit the said amount. Thereafter, the 2nd respondent herein (Nallajala Nagaiah) made representation to the 1st respondent expressing his willingness to deposit Rs.71,100/- towards the lease amount. The 1st respondent directed the 2nd respondent to deposit Rs.71,100/- by 24-4-2000. According to the petitioner, all this was done behind her back and the Municipality favoured the 2nd respondent because he belongs to the Tenali Municipal Chairman's group. Petitioner alleges that the Municipality also passed a resolution to grant lease in favour of the 2nd respondent without conducting negotiations and without issuing any notice to her and contrary to the procedure prescribed. According to the petitioner, the Municipality has filed Caveat Petition No.36 of 2000 in the Court of Prl. Junior Civil Judge, Tenali. Petitioner further states that the matter has taken place in a secret way and so she is not in a position to produce any papers except the Caveat Petition. Hence, the writ petition.

(3.) This writ petition is filed on 22-5-2000. On 23-5-2000, this Court while admitting the writ petition, passed the following interim order in WPMP No.11629 of 2000:-