AP HC Suspends GO Issued For Appointment Of 52 Special Invitees As TTD Board Members

On the 22nd of September, the Andhra Pradesh High Court (HC) directed to suspend the Government Order (GO) regarding nomination of special invitees for the TTD Board. The High Court bench comprising of the Chief Justice Mr. Aroop Kumar Goswami and Justice Mr. N. Jayasuriya heard the matter and issued an interim order.

Recently, on the 15th of September, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) Government issued the GO 568 & 569, nominating special invitees to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board. The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy Government nominated 52 additional members as the special invitees to the existing 24 TTD Trust Board members.

The issued GO read, "The scale and scope of these activities necessitates inclusion of special invitees who are experts from various fields." It further read, “Tirupati being the most visited place in the state by domestic tourists attracting over 36 million worshippers annually, shall vastly benefit with the addition of eminent personalities as special invitees to the TTD."

In regard to this, Ms. M. Uma Maheshwara Naidu, a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader from Anantapur filed a petition. In her plea, she urged the court to revoke the GO, as it violates Section 96 of the AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act of 1987.

However, the Advocate General (AG) representing the YSRCP, Mr. S. Sriram, said the petition was baseless. He said the special invitees would neither be a part of the TTD's decision making process nor invited to its functions. He said the additional 52 nominated members are not even considered as the TTD Board members. Concluding his point, Mr. S. Sriram said these nominated invitees were only given the protocol of a Board member for darshan, hence it is not against any law.

Dissatisfied with the arguments of Mr. S. Sriram, advocate of the petitioner Mr. Y. Balaji pleaded to the HC to ask about the criteria taken for nominating the special invitees. He also requested the court to demand a justification as to how these special invitees would contribute to the TTD Board.

Upon hearing the arguments of both the council, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered the suspension of GO 568 and 569, temporarily until four weeks.

The next hearing is expected to be heard after a period of four weeks.