The Supreme Court has directed the ‘Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam’ (TTD) to respond to a plea of a devotee who had alleged in the petition that the rituals were not being done for Lord Venkateswara properly and that the ritual procedures that were being followed were ‘wrongful and irregular’.
The plea had stated that the temple authority has been performing sevas namely, i) Abhishekam Seva, 2) Thomala Seva, 3) Arjitha Brahmostavam 4) Yekanta Utsavalu (Srivari Varshika Brahmotsavams – 2020) and 5) Maha Laghu Darshan, in a wrongful and irregular procedure. The PIL had prayed for the issuance of direction to the Devasthanam to rectify the method of conducting the rituals.
The bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana was hearing an appeal of a devotee against the order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which refused to entertain the oublic interest litigation noting that the “procedure of conducting rituals is the exclusive domain of the Devasthanam and cannot be a matter of adjudication unless it impacts secular or civil rights of others”.
Though the apex court was initially hesitant to entertain the plea, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, later sought a response from the counsel of the temple management.
During the brief hearing, the CJI also conversed in Telugu with petitioner Srivari Daadaa and asked him to be patient and not threaten the apex court with urgent listing of the plea.
“We are all devotees of Balaji and expect that all rituals will be conducted according to the traditions,” the CJI said.
The TTD has been given a weeks time to file a response to the petitioner’s allegations.
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