The Trustee of Sri Sitaramanjaneya Bhajan Mandir located on Sarojini Devi Road in Tirupati has finally got back its 5 acres and 56 cents of land in survey number 541 at Venkatramapuram of Kuntrapakam village accounts in Tirupati Rural mandal,  which was illegally sold to a third party, after a legal ordeal for 17 years. The land was donated to the temple, by the ancestors of the present Trustee Bandaru Venkatramana in 1953 and a registered trust was formed, with the shrine having rightful possession over the stretch.

The trouble began when the land was sold out to a third party in 1998 on the pretext of an auction and a section of the revenue staff had reportedly removed the name of Anjaneya from the Adangal and added the names of S. Sampurnamma and Thota Padmaja in place of it and even issued a Pattadar passbook.

A plaque in the temple mentions Bandaru Chengaiah donating the land on 23/02/1953 for meeting the requirements of the temple.

“We raised the issue before the court of the Revenue Divisional Officer and pointed out the inaccuracies in the record. We also brought to the court’s notice that auction or sale of temple land required the prior permission and a gazette notification of the Endowments Commissioner according to the Andhra Pradesh Endowments Act 1987, which did not happen in this case,” said Bandaru Venkatramana, the Trustee and president of Sri Seetharamanjaneya Bhajana Mandiram.

“Convinced by the arguments and the facts raised, the then RDO V. Veerabrahmaiah, in his order dated November 30, set aside the orders issued by the Tahsildar of Tirupati Rural and declared that the Pattadar passbooks or title deeds issued for the land as null and void. The land was donated in the name of the Lord and will continue to remain in his name,” asserted Mr. Venkatramana.

By Premji