NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that constitutional courts cannot interfere with day-to-day rituals of temples while disposing of a special leave petition challenging an Andhra Pradesh High Court order, which had rejected allegations of wrongful and irregular procedure being followed in the conduct of rituals at the Tirupati temple.
A bench of Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, however, said this does not give a free pass to the temple administration and asked it to give a proper response in to the appellant within eight weeks. “This court cannot entertain this under a writ.
Apart from pooja, if the administration is ignoring rules and regulations or indulging any other violation of arrangements, those are the only areas where we can ask Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) to clarify the issues raised by the petitioner or any other devotee. Other than this, if we start interfering in sevas, then it will not be feasible. How a coconut should be broken or a pooja done in a temple is not for a constitutional court to look into,” the bench said.
Appellant Srivari Dadaa had faulted the procedure to perform Abhishekam Seva, Thomala Seva, Arjitha Brahmostavam, Yekanta Utsavalu (Srivari Varshika Brahmotsavams – 2020) and Maha Laghu Darshan at the temple. The Andhra High Court, in its order, had said the procedure is the TTD’s exclusive domain and cannot adjudicated upon unless it impacts secular or civil rights of others. Activities that fall within ecclesiastical domain are not amenable to writ jurisdiction at the behest of an outsider, the court pointed out.