HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to place all records before the court regarding construction of a convention centre without permission by private persons on the land belonging to the famous Sun temple of Arasavelli Suryanarayana Swamy in Srikakulam district.
The bench also directed the principal secretary to endowment and commissioner of endowments of AP, temple executive officer and the district collector to file counter affidavits in the PIL.The bench of Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K Vijaya Lakshmi was dealing with the PIL filed by Raghupathruni Chiranjeevi, advocate from Srikakulam, and Appala Suryanarayana, former member of temple board, seeking directions to the concerned authorities to take action against P Narsinga Rao, who was constructing the convention centre on the temple land without any permission.
The petitioners’ counsel submitted that of the total 2.68 acres of land, about 1.2 acres was allotted to the TTD for construction of kalyana mandapam and another 1.48 acres was allotted to the tourism corporation for running a budget hotel. However, the concerned hotel management has started constructing a convention centre on the allotted land without taking any permission. When it was brought to the notice of the authorities, there was no response from the latter, the counsel pointed out and urged the court to intervene and order an inquiry into the whole issue. On the other hand, the government counsel claimed the subject land belongs to the government. Intervening, the bench told the government counsel that there was difference between the lands of government and that of endowments.The adjourned the case hearing to April 24.