TTD EO Asked to Respond to PIL Accusations in Three Weeks

In what follows from startling revelations made by a former priest of the Lord Venkateswara temple in May, the Executive Officer (EO) of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam has been given three weeks to respond to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Anil Kumar Borugadda and Bhupendra Goswami, alleging that the renovations of the temple kitchen that were currently in progress threatened to damage ancient inscriptions at this holy site. They insinuated foul play in that it appeared as if the work was being done on the pretext of something sinister as it appeared to be inching its way towards the temple’s treasure room. Upon receiving this PIL, the Hyderabad High Court issued a notice to the EO and his staff, requesting them to respond to these allegations within the stipulated deadline.

The case of Ramana Deekshithulu, a former chief priest of the Lord Venkateswara temple, in May of this year, made statements alleging that financial irregularities ran rife in the workings of the TTD, and even that precious items, several of them ancient in the manufacture, had gone missing from the temple. His services were shortly terminated after he went public with these allegations, however, the reason behind his termination was cited as being the fact that he had exceeded the maximum age limit of 65 years of age to be in the service of the temple. His claims have since been rubbished by the TTD authorities.

However, in light of this PIL, it appears that the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu has also urged to courts to get to the bottom of this, having written to Hyderabad HC Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan to order a probe into this matter, to be overseen by a sitting judge.