Justice E. V. Venugopal of Telangana High Court set aside a notice issued by Telangana Endowments department to Mahashakthi temple in Karimnagar city to register the temple with the government under the Telangana Endowments Act 30 of 1987.

The order was passed by the judge in a writ petition filed in 2016 by the temple agent and Dharmakartha Bandi Sanjay, currently Union Minister of State for Home, stating that compelling him to register the temple with the Endowments department was illegal. He contended that the government cannot force him to register with the government as there were no hundials in the temple. No fees or charges were being collected from the devotees visiting the temple.

Mr. Sanjay informed the Bench that in 2016 he had applied to the government to exempt the temple from the registration process mandated by the Endowments Act. Even as the application was pending, the authorities were attempting to compel the petitioner to get the temple registered by issuing notices, the petitioner’s counsel argued.

The government counsel told the Bench that Mahashakthi temple built by Mr. Sanjay was a public temple under Section 1 (3) (b) of the Telangana Endowments Act 30 of 1987. It was being administered by the Union Minister and his family members “in the capacity of self-styled Dharmakartha”, the government counsel argued. Though the Minister claimed that the temple was being run under the administrative directions of Hampi Virupaksha Vidyaranya Peetham of Karnataka, there was no express order from the government ratifying adoption of the temple by the Peetham.

Setting aside the notice issued by the authorities, the judge directed them to consider the Minister’s representation to exempt the temple from registration under Section 154 of the Endowments Act as expeditiously, preferably within three months.