Telangana High Court Raps Endowments Dept Over Missing Devaryamjal Temple Documents

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday came down heavily on the endowment department for failing to produce important land records related to Sri Seetha Rama Chandra Swamy Temple at Devaryamjal in Shamirpet mandal. Hearing a batch of 54 writ petitions, Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti expressed strong displeasure with the department’s conduct and gave a deadline of one week to submit all survey numbers, Sethwar and relevant land records to the court along with a detailed counter-affidavit.

The state government claims around 1,512 acres as temple land. This was based on the 1925-26 Pahani records showing the land in the name of Sri Seetharama Swamy Temple, with Ramudi Pullayya as trustee.

In 1354 Fasli (1944) Sethwar the land was recorded as government property but in 1954-55 it was shown as patta land. CCLA placed the land on the prohibited list.

Private individuals, who were disturbed by the decision and objected to the non-registration, said that they had been cultivating the land for decades and later became buyers and land owners, appealed to the Supreme Court. Their cases are ongoing.

Two days ago, Justice Anil Kumar directed the trust commissioner to be present in the court along with the revenue records of the land from 1925 to November 26. The commissioner appeared in court on Friday but did not produce records except some documents and others related to the 1925-26 pahanis.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the failure to release complete records, the judge noted that the petitioners had claimed ownership and possession of the land for nearly four decades, but authorities had repeatedly failed to provide the legal documents necessary to adjudicate the dispute.

Justice Anil Kumar made it clear that the court will rely only on original documents. Warning that the evasive approach of the authorities was unacceptable, he said, “This court acts strictly according to the records, not superficial materials.”

The judge also noted that the 2015 single judge decision dealing with various original applications for the same land had not been brought to the court’s attention in previous rounds of hearings. The court said that despite many opportunities, neither party announced the decision.

The endowment department lawyer requested two weeks to compile the records, arguing that the commissioner took over two months ago. The lawyer also requested exemption from the personal presence of the commissioner. While the court agreed to waive the obligation to attend the hearing, it refused to extend the deadline, stating that further delay would not be tolerated.

Justice Anil Kumar reiterated that failure to submit the entire memorandum and counter affidavit within a week will be considered seriously. The matter has been postponed to next Friday.