HYDERABAD : Justice Pulla Karthik of the Telangana High Court issued an interim order, staying the transfer of temple archakas (priests) across the state. The court was hearing a writ plea filed by Koti Sriman Narayana Charyulu and another petitioner, challenging the government’s actions under the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowment Act, 1987.
The petitioners argued that the government, under the guise of transferring “office holders or servants”, was seeking options from archakas of various temples for their transfer. Senior Counsel L Ravichander, representing the petitioners, contended that the government’s intervention in religious activities of temples was impermissible. He cited previous judgments, emphasising that the government’s authority to manage religious institutions did not extend to interfering with the religious aspects of temple operations.
Ravichander highlighted Section 142 of the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowment Act, 1987, which explicitly prevents the state from applying the Act in a manner that would affect any honours, interfering with religious worship, ceremonies, or poojas, according to the customs (sampradayams) and traditional practices (agamas) followed in such institutions. He argued that each temple has unique processes and procedures, and transferring archakas from one temple to another would violate the Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.
In response, the government pleader defended the state’s power to transfer “office holders or servants,” to which Ravichander pointed out the specific exclusion of archakas from such transfers. Justice Pulla Karthik granted the government time to file its response and, in the interim, stayed the transfer of all archakas.