Writ seeks recovery of funds from TTD

​Hyderabad: In a move that is supposed to benefit the Archakas of temples with hardly any income in remote areas in the two Telugu states, the hereditary trustee of Chilukuru Balaji temple, M V Soundara Rajan,

filed a writ petition in the High Court at Hyderabad appealing to the judicature to issue a writ of Mandamus to the Endowment departments and the governments of two Telugu states to initiate action to recover funds from the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and other major temples under the Endowment Administration Fund and the Common Good Fund.

A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice A Shankar Narayana on Tuesday took on file the writ plea. Senior Counsel P Raghuram appearing for the petitioner argued that the amounts were due for over a decade.

The writ states that the Endowment departments and the governments of the two states are not initiating proceedings under Section 148 (2) of AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions & Endowments Act of 1987 for recovery of contributions payable by the TTD and other major temples to the Endowment Administration Fund and the Common Good Fund.

The petitioner claims that Rs 387.92 crore under the Endowment Administrative Fund and Rs 188.61 crore under the Common Good Fund for the years between 2003-04 and 2012-13 have yet to be recovered from the TTD and Rs 178.94 crore from other major temples.

The petitioner also prayed for direction to undertake audit by CAG for the period post-2012-13 for assessing the amount due from the TTD and other major temples. The petitioner appealed to the High Court to direct the governments and the Endowment departments to initiate proceedings to recover the dues from these temples.

The petitioner recalled that the AP Endowments Act of 1987 had abolished the hereditary Archakatwam and hereditary trustees of temples.

The petitioner, recalling the Supreme Court judgment in APSCHE vs Union of India case that the assets and liabilities of the two successor states after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh should be apportioned without any discrimination, appealed to the High Court to issue direction to take care in ensuring that no discrimination is done against either of the successor state.

The petitioner also sought interim relief by directing the TTD to deposit contribution of Rs. 387.92 crore to the Endowment Administration Fund and Rs. 188.61 crore to the Common Good Fund and also direct the other major temples to deposit Rs 178.94 crore with the Endowment Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh pending disposal of the writ petition.