VIJAYAWADA: Suspending the operation of government orders appointing 52 special invitees to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, in an interim order on Wednesday, directed the chief secretary, principal secretary (endowments) and TTD executive officer to file counter arguments.
A division bench of Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswamy and Justice N Jayasurya deferred the case to October 20 for further hearing. A batch of PILs have been filed before the High Court, challenging the government orders 568 and 569, issued on September 15, constituting the Trust Board and appointing the special invitees.
Counsel for petitioner Umamaheswara Naidu, Advocate Y Balaji, argued that special invitees were appointed in violation of rules. He submitted that Section 96 of the Endowments Act had not mentioned appointing special invitees. The Act stipulated the appointment of only 29 members, including the chairman, he said.
Advocate PVG Umesh Chandra, representing another petitioner and founder of the Hindu Jana Shakti Welfare Association Kakumanu Lalith Kumar, said the nominations were in breach of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act of 1987, besides violating a catena of Supreme Court judgments.
Arguing, Chandra said Sections 95 to 131 of Chapter XIV of the Endowments Act did not empower either the TTD Board or the State to nominate special invitees. He also informed that the practice of appointing special invitees started presumably in 2019 and hence the nominations were neither a custom or sanctioned by Dharmashastras and therefore, the GOs were legally untenable.
The nominations were made without consulting the TTD Board. The phrase “Special invitees” has not been defined in the Act and the State exercised its whim in nominating members and therefore, such an exercise have left excessive scope for arbitrariness, Chandra submitted.
He added that the nomination of special invitees would compromise the independent nature of the Board of Trustees, which wields exclusive governing power in the TTD. It would also be against the legislative intent of exclusivity accorded to the Board. Therefore, the nominations would be contrary to both the letter and spirit of the Act, Chandra said.
Advocate General S Sriram said the special invitees were not related to TTD’s functioning and they would be special invitees only to the temple. They would have no like the Board members and could not participate in Board meetings or cast their votes. Sriram further informed the court that special invitees were appointed earlier also and submitted that a detailed counter would be filed.
TTD standing counsel S Satyanarayana Prasad said the petitioners had not approached the TTD, objecting the appointments. Instead, they approached the court directly. After hearing the arguments, the division bench suspended the GO, and asked the government and TTD to file their counters.
The bench also said it would dismiss the PIL filed by BJP leader G Bhanuprakash Reddy as the members, whose names were mentioned, were not made respondents. The bench took objection to making allegations against the members but not making them respondents in the PIL. Lalith Kumar informed the court that he would make them as respondents and the matter was posted for hearing on October 6.
‘Spl invitees not related to TTD’s functioning’
Advocate General S Sriram said the special invitees were not related to TTD’s functioning. They would have no like the TTD Trust Board members and could not participate in Board meetings or cast their votes. He informed the court that special invitees were appointed earlier also