source: The Hindu, May 31, 2006

Legal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justice L. Narasimha Reddy and Justice Appa Rao on Tuesday restrained the Government from taking possession of the temple lands in the State in the name of house sites for the Indiramma scheme.

The bench was dealing with two separate writ petitions filed by functionaries of Devalaya Parirakshana Samithi and A.P. Archaka Parishad.

The petitioners brought to the notice of the court various judgements, interim orders of the High Court delivered on earlier occasions pertaining to taking over of the temple lands by the Government in the name of house sites.

It was brought to the notice of the court that in East Godavari district Rs. 8 crores had been due to temples since 1996 for the lands acquired.

The petitioners complained that in the last three weeks the Collectors of East and West Godavari districts had issued 91 notifications seeking to take over hundreds of acres of temple lands though the Commissioner of Endowments told them that appropriate clarifications and permission had to be obtained from the High Court.

The Devalaya Parirakshana Samiti challenged the constitutional validity of Section 80 of the Endowments Act, which authorises the Government to permit sale of temple lands.

The bench did not appreciate the hasty action of the district Collectors and directed issuance of notices to them taking serious note of their action.