The Endowments Tribunal has jurisdiction to decide disputes regarding hereditary rights, and the abolition of such rights does not prevent recognition of individuals as hereditary archakas if previously acknowledged.

JUDGMENT :

M.G. Priyadarsini, J.

Aggrieved by the Order dated 07.06.2019 (hereinafter will be referred as ‘impugned order’) in O.A.No.3 of 2017 passed by the learned Telangana Endowments Tribunal at Hyderabad, the applicants filed the present Civil Miscellaneous Appeal.

2. For the sake of convenience, hereinafter, the parties will be referred as per their array before the learned Telangana Endowments Tribunal at Hyderabad (hereinafter will be referred as “Tribunal”).

3. The facts that lead the applicants to file the present appeal are as under :

(a) The applicants filed an application under Section 87 (1)(e) of the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (hereinafter will be referred as ‘the Act’) to declare the applicants and their family members as hereditary pujaris and trustees of Sri Chenna Keshava Swamy Temple and Sri Anjaneya Swamy Temple situated at Kodair Village of Nagar Kurnool District (hereinafter will be referred as ‘subject temple’) with a right to receive the emoluments and honorarium like DDNS and others attached to the temple and also for the annulments of the entries in the Section 43 register standing in the name of first respondent by substituting it with applicants and their ancestors names as hereditary Pujaris and trustees of the temple. The brief averments of the application are as under:

(i) The subject temple is a very small, ancient temple in existence ever since Vijayanagar dynasty having the income below Rs.10,000/- per annum. The ancestors of the applicants were recognized as hereditary pujaris and trustees of the temple. Their great grandfather addressed a letter in the year 1939 to the Chief Engineer of Nizam Government under the capacity of Muthawali wherein, it is appraised that there is no revenue to the temple and it is very much necessary for reconstruction of the temple, which is in dilapidated condition and when there was no reply for that letter, it was renovated with his personal resources.

(ii) The great grandfather of the applicants used to submit budget proposals every year pertaining to the temple and also used to receive letter from Tahsil Office of Kollapur for submitting budget proposals. To overcome the financial difficulties and for smooth functioning of the temple, the village elders resolved that their grandfather has to do daily puja activities in the subject temple by following traditional rituals for which, it was decided to contribute some yield from their agricultural fields. They have also resolved that in case for any reason, no support is received from them even in such circumstances, their grandfather has to do pujapath and it should be continued.

(iii) The great grandfather and his successors by overcoming the adverse situations, sustained the pujariship cum trusteeship of the subject temple. After obtaining permission from Tahsil Office, Nagarkurnool, the great grandfather of the applicants constructed a dwelling house at Kodair and he became a permanent resident of Kodair by continuing Pujapath and the maintenance of the temple. The grandfather of the applicants by name Nambi Balakrishnaiah in line of succession served as hereditary pujari cum trustee of the subject temple and the Endowments Department recognized him as such, and he used to receive the notices from the department for submission of income and expenditure of the temple. The grandfather of the applicants used to correspond with the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments in relation to the activities of the temple and he used to receive the acknowledgment for such correspondence. The subject temple was published in the official gazette. At first instance, the great grandfather Pujari Lakshmaiah, thereafter his son Pujari Narasimha, thereafter his son Pujari Balakrishnaiah and thereafter his sons Pujari Lakshmana Swamy, Pujari Srinivasulu used to perform the pujapath in the subject temple and now in the line of succession, the applicants are doing archakatwamu in the subje