Andhra HC finds fault with government memo seeking temple honours for Sarada seer

Source:-https://www.newindianexpress.com

VIJAYAWADA/VISAKHAPATNAM: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday found fault with the memo issued by the Endowment Department for providing temple honours to Visakhapatnam-based Sarada Peetham head Sri Swaroopanandendra Saraswathi on the occasion of his birthday on Wednesday.

Hearing the PILs filed by Kakumanu Lalith Kumar of Hyderabad, M Nagashankar of Vijayawada and A Radhakrishna of Tirupati challenging the memo, which asked temple EOs of 23 temples including Arasavalli, Pydithali, Simhachalam, Antarvedi, Annavaram, Dwaraka Tirumala to provide temple honours to Swaroopanandendra Saraswathi, a division bench of Justice Rakesh Kumar and Justice Umadevi objected to the content of the memo issued on November 12 by Endowment Department additional commissioner K Ramachandra Mohan.

Appearing for Sarada Peetham, senior advocate SS Prasad said it was unfortunate that a religious person was being dragged into a controversy. He informed the court that they are withdrawing the letter written by the manager of the Peetham to the endowment department on November 9 seeking temple honours to the “peetadhipathi”. The Bench stated that as the letter is withdrawn, there is no value of the memo issued by the endowment department.

Earlier, petitioner’s counsel DSNV Prasad Babu said it is not proper for the government to intervene in religious affairs. He argued that providing such honours to one swamiji will be nothing short of neglecting other swamijis.

Advocate General S Sriram said the memo was sent to the temples, but nowhere the government ordered that the temples must provide temple honours. The decision in that regard will be taken by the respective temple authorities and it does not have any financial burden either on the temples or on the government. On previous occasions also, Peetadhipatis were provided temple honours, the AG pointed out.

Only sought continuation of ‘tradition’: Peetham
In a press release, Sarada Peetham said there was a misinformation campaign for the last three days with regard to the birthday celebrations of the seer. With a view to get blessings of the almighty to the pontiff, honours from various temples were sought. Since 2004, most temples were offering ‘prasadam’ and ‘sesha vastram’ to Swaroopanandendra Saraswati on his birthday and Sarada Peetham only sought continuation of the “tradition” this year also, the release said.