AP High Court suspends G.O issued for appointment of 52 special invitees to TTD Board

September 22, 2021 03:19 pm | Updated 03:22 pm IST - VIJAYAWADA:

The special invitees will be given privileges on a par with TTD Trust Board members.

The special invitees will be given privileges on a par with TTD Trust Board members.

A division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice N. Jayasurya suspended the operation of G.O. numbers 568 and 569 through which the government nominated a total of 52 special invitees to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Trust Board, by an interim order on Wednesday.

The court held that the appointments were contrary to Section 96 of the AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act of 1987 and issued notices to the State and TTD returnable within four weeks.

During the hearing on a PIL filed by M. Uma Maheshwara Naidu, a TDP leader from Kalyandurg in Anantapur district, the court directed the government to keep the G.Os under suspension until further orders after observing that the nomination (of 52 individuals as special invitees) was in violation of the above Act and the matter warranted a detailed enquiry.

Appearing for the State, Advocate General S. Sriram argued that the special invitees would neither be a part of the TTD's decision making process nor invited to its functions. So, it was not proper to construe them as members of the TTD Board. He also said these invitees were only given the protocol of a Board member for darshan and therefore it was not bad in law.

The petitioner's counsel, Y. Balaji pleaded to the court to call upon the TTD to explain the criteria adopted by it for nominating the special invitees and how they would contribute to the preservation of its character.

Senior counsel S.S. Prasad made a submission on the TTD's behalf that the PIL was filed without making any representations and hence it was liable to be dismissed.

It may be recalled that the government constituted the TTD Board with 24 members and three ex-officio members with TTD executive officer as it's member secretary through G.O. Ms.No.245, and nominated 52 special invitees vide G.O. RT.No.s 568 and 569 issued by principal secretary (revenue-endowments) G. Vani Mohan on September 15, 2021.

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