IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) PRESENT: THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY FRIDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF OCTOBER, TWO THOUSAND EIGHT ONLY WRIT PETITION No.1200 of 2001 Between: Smt. N.Sujatha Bai. … Petitioner And The Commissioner, Endowments Department, Government of A.P., Hyderabad and two others. … Respondents Counsel for the petitioners: Sri N.Chandradhar Rao. Counsel for the respondents: AGP for Endowments R.1 and R.2. This Court made the following: ORDER:- This Writ Petition is ﬁled for a Writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments, Ongole, in directing the petitioner to hand over complete charge of accounts and records of Sri Grama Dharma Nidhi Trust, Ulavapadu, Prakasam District (for short “the Trust”) to respondent No.3, vide his Proceedings No.Rc.B3/7633/90 dated 11-12-2000, as illegal. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner; learned Assistant Government Pleader for Endowments for respondents 1 and 2; and perused the record. The petitioner claims to be a member of the founder family of the Trust. After considerable litigation, the petitioner was recognized as a member from the founder family by the Assistant Commissioner of Endowments by his order dated 24-10-1998. She claimed that she had been managing the aﬀairs of the Trust by virtue of the said order dated 24-10-1998. She felt aggrieved by the impugned proceedings whereby she was directed to handover the records to respondent No.3. With the advent of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (for short “the Act”) all hereditary rights got abolished under Section 16 of the Act. The limited right vested in a person recognized as a member of the founder family is to get appointed as one of the trustees of the non-hereditary Trust Board to be constituted for the institution. Under Section 133 of the Act, a duty is cast on the outgoing trustees to hand over charge to their successors. In this case, an Executive Oﬃcer was appointed on 23-6-1995 by the Commissioner of Endowments and questioning the said order the petitioner ﬁled Writ Petition No.15318 of 1995, which was dismissed by this Court on 19-4-1999 as withdrawn. It, therefore, follows that the appointment of Executive Oﬃcer remains valid and in pursuance of the same the impugned notice was issued directing the petitioner to hand over the records and account books to respondent No.3. In my considered view, the impugned order does not suﬀer from any illegality or jurisdictional error. The petitioner, who is admittedly not functioning as a trustee of the non-hereditary Trust Board, cannot retain the records and account books of the institution and is bound to hand over the same to the Executive Officer. For the above-mentioned reasons, the Writ Petition is dismissed. ------------------------- -------------- C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY,J Date:24-10-2008 MNR