HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has allowed a writ petition by Union Minister Bandi Sanjay, setting aside a 2016 notice from the Endowments Department directing him to register the Mahashakti Temple in Chaitanyapuri under Section 43(1) of the Endowments Act.
The court ruled that the absence of a hundi or puja charges does not make a temple private, and all Hindu public temples fall under Section 1(3)(b) of the Endowments Act, 1987. Authorities were directed to consider Sanjay’s 2016 plea for exemption under Section 154 within three months.
Sanjay claimed he built the temple in 2010 at a cost of Rs 2 crore with no revenue generated, and that maintenance is handled solely by his family. The court criticised officials for not evaluating the temple’s income or acting on Sanjay’s request for nine years.