On Wednesday, the Hyderabad High Court has ordered the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam to stop funding private trusts. In specific the HC asked not to send any more funds to the Hindu Dharma Parirakshana Trust (HDPT,) which is operated by a retired bureaucrat at Tirumala.
The Andhra Pradesh Revenue Secretary issued an order (Ms. No. 65) that requested the TTD to release Rs. 50 lakhs funds to HDPT every month. The Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan along with his bench members Justice Shameem Akhter heard the public interest petition that was filed by Naveen Kumar Reddy of Chittoor. Reddy had questioned this said order of funds transfer, and had requested the court to intervene,
P. Suryanarayana, the lawyer of Reddy informed the court that the order passed by the state was in opposition to the section 111 of the AP Charitable and Hindu Religious and Endowments Act, 1987. The HC too asked the same question as to how can a state divert funds received by the TTD to any private trust. The bench asked the state revenue secretary, “Who are you to ask TTD to disburse funds? Don’t disburse any further funds.” The CJ also said that “This is not a new phenomenon. Everybody feels TTD is part of the government.” He also said that the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam from here on will not release any funds to the trust.
