ADARI APPALANAIDN Vs. SUDARSANAM LAKSHMANCHARYULU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a revision petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India seeking to quash the order of the Revenue Divisional Officer, Visakhapatnam, in T.A.No. 6 of 1971 setting aside the order of the Tahsildar, Anakapalli, in A.T.P.No. of 1968 and ordering the eviction of the petitioners-tenants.

(2.) The facts giving rise to the revision petition may be shortly set out :-The respondent, Sudarsanam Lakshmancharyulu, is the archaka of Sri Venugopalaswamivari Temple in Jaggaiahpet Agraharam, Anakapalli Taluk, Visakhapatnam District. He filed a petition before the Tahsildar, Anakapalli, for eviction of the petitioners from the petition schedule lands on the ground of default in payment of rent and also denial of title of the landlord. His case was that the petitioners executed a 'Kadapa' Exhibit A-5, dated 6th May, 1951 for one year agreeing to pay a rent of Rs. 397-50 per annum, that they failed to pay the rents for the year 1958-59 and 1959-60 and that he had to file civil suits and obtain decrees for the realisation of the rents. The case of the tenants was that they and their ancestors cultivated the lands of Sri Venugopalaswamivari Temple that the lands are situated in an estate which was abolished and taken over under the Estates Abolition Act by the State Government on 7th January, 1959 and that they had occupancy rights in the lands.

(3.) The Tahsildar, Anakapalli, dismissed the eviction petition holding that an archaka of a temple is not a landlord within the meaning of clause (f) of section 2 of the Andhra Pradesh Tenancy Act, 1956, herein after referred to merely as ''the Act' and therefore, the respondent who is an archaka cannot maintain an application for eviction against the petitioners tenants under section 13 of the Act.