J SRIRANGANAYAKULU Vs. S PULLA REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiffs are the appellants. Their suit, instituted under Section 78 of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1966 (for short 'the Endowment Act') for setting aside the order passed by the 2nd defendant under Section 77(1)(a) of the Endowments Act, whereby the suit house, suit Ramalayam and the suit lands have been declared as public charitable endowments and recovery of the suit house has been ordered, has been dismissed.

(2.) It is no longer in controversy before me that the 1st plaintiff, his father late Javvadi Laxmayya Naidu, his uncle late Narasimhamurthy and his (late Narasimhamurthy's) adopted son namely late Javvadi Venkata Ramasastry who was the father-in-law of the 2nd plaintiff and the 2nd plaintiff's husband, namely Javvadi Narasimharao were members of a Joint Hindu Family and had considerable movable and immovable properties in Penugonda Village. Late Laxmayya Naidu was a renowned philanthropist and a patron of arts and literature. He used to patronise Telugu Poets and used to hold literary conferences at Penugonda and also used to honour Telugu poets. This Joint Hindu Family had purchased a house bearing Door No.17-99 at Penugonda which was popularly known as "Keerthiseshulu Javvadi Venkata Ramasastry Dharmasala" in the memory of late Javvadi Venkata Ramasastry who had died at the age of about 22 years sometime in the year 1942. On the occasion of Sastipurthy celebrations of late Javvadi Laxmayya Naidu, in the year 1961, his well-wishers had published a souvenir, Ex.B-2. On 16-5-1957, the 1st plaintiff, his father Javvadi Laxmayya Naidu, his Uncle, Javvadi Narasimhamurthy and late Javvadi Venkata Narasimha Rao, husband of the 2nd plaintiff had disrupted the Joint Hindu Family and partitioned the immovable properties, except the property shown in 'E' Schedule annexed to the partition deed, Ex.B-1, in which in Item No.8, Ac.6-20 cts. out of Ac.11-20 cts. of land had been shown for maintenance of Sitaramalayam and Venkata Ramasastry Dharmasala, for Akhandam, Bhogam and also for the maintenance of Javvadi Musalayya alias Laxmayya during his life time. The plaintiffs had leased out the suit house for some time to Land Mortgage Bank and for some period to the Local Library Authority. They had also paid taxes to the Gram Panchayat - vide Receipts Exs.A-4, A-5 and A-7. They had agreed to donate the sale proceeds of the suit house to the Gram Panchayat for construction of travellers shed in the bus stand of Penugonda Village and the Gram Panchayat of this village had arranged for the sale of the suit house to the 4th defendant for a consideration of Rs .23,000/- and had executed a sale deed, Ex.B-7 on 28-9-1974 and on 16-11-1976, late Javvadi Laxmayya Naidu through his Advocate had filed an objection, Ex.B-17, before the Land Reforms Officer in LCC 1693/75.

(3.) The 1st defendant had filed a petition in O.A.140/74 under Sec. 77(l)(a) of the Endowment Act for taking possession of the suit house as also the temple called Ramalayam together with the properties endowed to them as, according to him, these properties were public charitable endowments. The petition was resisted by the plaintiffs and J. Laxmayya Naidu, who had subsequently expired. The 2nd defendant, after holding an enquiry, accepted the petition and found that the suit house is a public charitable endowment and, therefore, it could not be alienated to the 4th defendant and ordered the 3rd defendant to take steps for recovery of possession of the suit house to restore working of the institution and to maintain the Ramalayam. The second defendant also directed the third defendant to take suitable action in relation to Ac.1-00 cts. of land out of Ac.11-20 cts. of land belonging to the plaintiffs.