Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams not to disburse any amount to the Hindu Dharma Parirakshana Trust.
The court, while dealing with a PIL questioning a GO issued by the AP government directing the TTD to release Rs 50 lakh to the HDPT before the 5th of every month, granted stay on the release of funds.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Shameem Akhter was dealing with the PIL by P. Naveen Kumar Reddy, a resident of Chittoor challenging GO 65 issued on February 8, 2017 directing the TTD to release Rs 50 lakh to the HDPT every month.
Counsel for the petitioner contended that the action of the AP government was violative of Section 111 of the AP Charitable and Hindu Religious & Endowments Act, 1987.
He said that the HDPT was purely a private trust, but in its GO, the AP government has claimed that HDPT was trust constituted by Endowments department to take up Dharma Parirakshana and Prachara activities.
To implement its plan, assured funding was required for which the government sanctioned Rs 50 lakh every month from Endowments funds and TTD was to give Rs 50 lakh, counsel said.
