Hyderabad: Telangana high court has dismissed an appeal seeking to declare a Hanuman temple and its adjoining land at Shaikpet as private property, holding that such disputes must be decided by the endowments tribunal and not civil courts. The court also upheld the stand that the land belongs to the endowments department.The appeal, pending since 2007, arose from a long-running dispute over a temple spread across 3.13 acres in Shaikpet.A bench comprising Justices K Lakshman and Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy held that under the state Endowments Act, disputes over whether a property is private or a public endowment must be adjudicated by the endowments tribunal. Justice Ramakrishna Reddy said that when a special law creates a specific forum for certain disputes, the jurisdiction of civil courts stands excluded so that subject experts can decide such matters. The court also observed that there is a legal presumption in favour of such institutions being public, placing the burden of proof on the person claiming it to be private. The appellant claimed the temple was a private family institution built by his ancestors over 120 years ago with personal funds. He sought a declaration of ownership and an injunction restraining the endowments department from interfering with the property. Family-maintained templeHe relied on a registered will executed in 1977 and revenue records, including a ryotwari patta, to contend that the property belonged to his maternal uncle. He also argued that the temple was maintained by the family and not through public donations, and therefore could not be treated as a public endowment. The endowments department contested the claim, stating that the land had been granted specifically for temple services and that the appellant’s predecessor was only a mutawalli (trustee/manager), not the absolute owner. It also placed on record a 1989 gazette notification declaring the temple an endowed public institution, which had remained unchallenged for decades. While affirming the 2007 lower court decree against the appellant, the high court granted liberty to approach the endowments tribunal. It further directed the tribunal to decide the matter independently, in accordance with law, without being influenced by any observations in the present judgment.
