The Andhra Pradesh government’s move to nominate 52 special invitees to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams’ (TTD) Trust Board (eventually increasing the number to 81 members) has been challenged in the High Court with a plea to declare the decision as illegal and arbitrary as it caused hardship to commoners to have darshan of the lord.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Madineni Uma Maheshwara Naidu filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the High Court through his counsel Yelamanjula Balaji.
The petitioner raised objection to the nomination of 52 special invitees to the TTD Trust Board and giving them privileges on par with the members of the TTD Trust Board with regard to their darshan and tenure by issuing two government orders including GO RT No. 569 and GO RT NO. 568 dated 15/09/2021.
He said that it was illegal, arbitrary and also contrary to the section 96 of AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 and also violation of Article 25 of the Constitution of India.
Nominees ‘illegal’
He appealed for immediate suspension of two GOs dealing with nomination of special invitees as it would cause hardship and hurdle to the common public to take darshan of the lord.
The petitioner also mentioned jumbo-sized TTD’s Trust Board with more than 80 members appointed by the state government by saying that it had more members than the Union Cabinet. He said it would become a herculean task to manage the temple with such a high number of members in the trust board.
Going by this PIL, it remains to be seen whether the Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy-led government will pay heed to courts diktat and set the Board right or as usual, it will do whatever it wishes to, as has been the case in the last two years.
