VIJENDRA KUMAR AND ORS. vs THE COMMISSIONER A.P. CHARITABLE AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION AND ENDOWMENT DEPARTMENT — C.A. No. 6460/2008

Case Summary: Vijendra Kumar v. Commissioner, A.P. Charitable and Religious Institutions & Endowment Department Court Decision: The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the High Court's judgment, directing the matter back to the endowment authority for fresh adjudication within six months. Key Issue: Whether a Hanuman temple is private family property or a public endowment, given conflicting evidence about an alleged 1936 endowment registration by the appellants' father. Court's Reasoning: The Court found the endowment register entry (Exhibit B6) potentially decisive but noted it lacked proper procedural proof and that the witness couldn't establish how it was prepared. Since oral evidence was evenly balanced and the presumption of official validity is rebuttable, the Court rejected the lower courts' definitive conclusions and remanded for fresh hearing before the endowment authority with full evidence from both parties. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.