DISTRICT COLLECTOR Vs. A P ARCHAKA SAMAKHYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN these applications, it has been prayed that interim relief, which has been granted in w. P. M. P. No. 13204 of 2006 in Writ Petition no. 10547 of 2006 on 30-5-2006, be vacatec so as to enable the applicants and other government authorities to acquire lands, which are required for implementation of certain irrigation projects, which are stated hereunder: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_421_ALT3_2008Html1.htm</FRM>

(2.) THE circumstances under which the afore-stated applications have been filed by the applicant government authorities in nutshell are as under: there are several temples in the State of andhra Pradesh and lands have been gifted to the temples for their maintenance by several persons. Such temple lands are popularly known as "endowment lands": The said lands are managed by the Endowments department of the State of Andhra Pradesh.

(3.) WRIT Petition No. 10547 of 2006, which is in the nature of public interest litigation, has been filed in this Court wherein it has been submitted that the lands owned by the temples are neither being properly looked-after nor being properly managed by the endowments Department. It has been specifically averred in the writ petition that though many encroachments have been made on the temple lands, the State, instead of removing the encroachments, has regularised several encroachments. Moreover, for one reason or the other, the State has started acquiring the lands belonging to the temples.