Telangana HC rejects plea against endowment claim on Jagtial land

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday, November 11, rejected an appeal by the wife and adopted son of a Jagtial landowner who sought to reclaim a 1,000-square-yard plot in Metpally town that he had willed to a charitable trust, a dispute that has dragged on since 1990.

Justice Suddala Chalapathi Rao held that Chandramma, widow of Admala Laxma Reddy, and the couple’s adopted son failed to establish any right over the property, upholding the Endowments Department’s claim.

Reddy created the trust through a registered will in October 1989, to fund education and medical assistance for the poor. He died in 1990, and the same year his wife and adopted son went to a civil court seeking a declaration of title, possession and an injunction. They argued that the properties were joint family assets, which Reddy had no right to bequeath.

They also claimed that Reddy had revoked the will through a deed dated March 18, 1990, saying the will was made under duress.

The Senior Civil Judge, Jagtial, ruled against them in 1999. The family then moved the High Court in appeal.

Representing the Endowments Department, Bhukya Mangilal Nayak and government pleader for appeals G Tirupathi Reddy opposed the appeal, pointing to the registered will.

The High Court said the Endowments Act did not bar the civil suit, since the Endowments Tribunal came into existence only in 2007, and that the ownership dispute was therefore maintainable before a civil court. It then found that the petitioners had not proved the properties were joint family assets.

The court also held that proving the genuineness of a testator’s signature on a document is not enough to establish that a will was revoked, unless it is also shown that he signed it knowing its contents and intending to revoke the earlier will.

The report said the court observed that even if the Endowments Department had committed procedural lapses while taking possession of the properties, such lapses would not by themselves give the appellants ownership rights.

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