Temple in capital: Court dismisses PIL against Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam

HYDERABAD: Terming it a ‘publicity interest petition’, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Friday dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) filed challenging the resolution passed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) on August 28 this year sanctioning an amount of Rs 150 crore for construction of Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Amaravati.

“It is not a public interest litigation petition, but a publicity interest petition. The court’s valuable time is being wasted by filing such petitions. There is a need to impose huge costs against those who file such petitions,” the bench cautioned.

The two-member bench of Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice SV Bhatt dismissed the PIL filed by P Naveen Kumar Reddy, a resident of Tirupati, with a plea to declare the decision of the TTD in passing resolution sanctioning an amount of `150 crore for construction of the temple in Amaravati at Venkatapalem village in Thullur mandal of Guntur district, on the recommendation of Chief Minister N Chadandrababu Naidu, as violative of Section 111 of the AP Charitable and Hindu Religious and Endowments Act, 1987.

After perusing the contents of the PIL, the bench questioned the petitioner’s intention in filing the plea now on the issue when the TTD had suggested for construction of Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temples in all States and Union Territories of the country at a meeting convened by Naidu at Padmavathi Guest House in 2014.

It appears that the present petition was filed keeping in view the upcoming elections in the State, the bench observed.

At one stage, the bench warned of imposing `10 lakh costs on the petitioner. However, the bench finally decided to dismiss the PIL.