HC faults temples for commercial outlook

Hyderabad: Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar of the Telangana High Court faulted temples for functioning with a commercial outlook and not taking a humane approach to facilitators. The judge disposed of a writ plea challenging the non-extension of lease period of a licensee for the collection of saris and coconuts pertaining to the Ujjaini Mahankali Temple, Secunderabad.

The judge was dealing with a writ plea filed by N. Naveen Kumar challenging the action of the executive officer (EO) of the temple in not extending the lease period of petitioners for 292 days by taking into consideration the loss occurred during the Covid-19 period. It was contended by the petitioner that he was granted licence rights from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 and 10 days prior to the starting of the tender, the lockdown was declared on March 20, 2020. He argued that the government issued a memo on December 17, 2021 extending the lease/licence period for business holders and as such, petitioners are entitled for a period of 292 days.

He stated that due to the first lockdown he was deprived of his licence period for 69 days, to compensate respondents extended his licence for 90 days. However, he could not avail the extension period due to the second lockdown.

He contended that as the order of the government extending the licence period for 292 days came into existence after the expiry of the licence period, the petitioner said he could not avail the benefit immediately after expiry of the licence period.

However, he was granted licence for a second time for a period of one year from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 by virtue of a sealed tender-cum-public auction. While calculating the period the petitioner submitted that he is entitled to 191 days after the expiry of the licence period by March 31, 2024.

Justice Shravan Kumar, after hearing the parties, observed that, “It is pertinent to note that even though there is inflation and prices have gone up, the petitioners are not willing and are unable to pay the same sum as was paid for the financial year 2020-2021, from which this court infers that the petitioners have suffered substantial loss.

The judge further observed, “This court is of the considered opinion that the temples cannot function with a commercial outlook to augment income and if there is requirement to meet the expenditure of temple, the state has to substitute for the same. It is an accepted custom that temples are run on the donations offered by devotees and the action of respondents looking up ways and means for fetching more income on auctions would only suggest that the temples today are run as business centres and such action of the respondents is deprecated.”

The judge while disposing the writ petitions said, “Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and to put a quietus to the present lis, this court deems it appropriate to extend the benefit of extension of lease/licence period for a period of five months to petitioners from July 1, 2024 to November 30, 2024.”

EWS reservations by PSC under judicial scanner

The Telangana High Court will examine the legality of the state government decision enabling 10 per cent reservation to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) for the total vacancies instead of making said 10 per cent reservation available only under the unreserved category. Justice Pulla Karthik took on file a writ plea filed by a 27-year-old student Anuma Srikanth, who applied for different posts under Notification No. 02/2024 of February 19, 2024, issued by the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC). The petitioner states that the notification of TGPSC is following 100 point cyclic roster which was amended through a government order in March 2021 and later again in August 2021, among others. The judge directed in an interim order that recruitments done by respondent authorities will be subject to the outcome of the decision in writ plea.