Govt. has no moral right to retire archakas: IYR

The order will be challenged, he says

May 22, 2018 07:44 am | Updated 06:58 pm IST - Vijayawada

On the warpath:  Former Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, Bapatla MLA Kona Raghupathi (right) and Brahmana Ikya Vedika members at a meeting in Vijayawada .

On the warpath: Former Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, Bapatla MLA Kona Raghupathi (right) and Brahmana Ikya Vedika members at a meeting in Vijayawada .

The State government had no moral right to prevent Archakas (priests) from performing ritual services (kaimkaryams) on the basis of age or fix a retirement age for them, said former Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao here on Monday.

Speaking at a meeting of the Archakas and scholars of the Agama Sastra organised by the Brahmana Ikya Vedika (BIV) to discuss the stand of the government, Mr. Krishna Rao said the trauma an Archaka would experience would be unbearable if he was suddenly told that he could not perform the ‘kaimkaryams’. He wrote a letter to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on it.

Nobody was talking about the special privileges given to them under Section 144 of the Endowments Act, he said. These privileges were approved by the TTD Dharma Prachara Parishad. The State government challenged the privileges in the Supreme Court but withdrew its petition. These facts were not being talked about by TTD EO Anil Kumar Singhal who was quoting some government orders. The order fixing a retirement age would be challenged, Mr Krishna Rao said.

‘Rules not framed’

The G.O. was actually a preliminary notification for the A.P.Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endownments Hereditary Archakas Qualifications and Emoluments Rules, 2017. The Telugu Desam government first amended the Endowments Act in 1986 but never framed rules for it.

After fixing the retirement age, the State government was now saying it would implement G.O.76 to pacify the Archakas but this was unlikely to happen unless they fought for it, he said.

Mr. Rao in his letter to the Chief Minister on Monday said the government needed to give attention to the issues raised by Mr. Deekshitulu and address the lapses in the TTD administration.

The chief priest’s action should come within the whistleblowers’ policy which was part of the principles of Good Governance. Instead of rewarding him, the government thought it fit to remove him from service.

Mr. Deekshitulu only pointed out the undue interference and pressure from the officers resulting in important pujas being cut short and delay in the offering of Naivedyam.

He also pointed out that the Potu area was dug up by officials without the knowledge and approval of the Executive Officer (EO). “The Potu area being part of the main temple premises itself nobody has a right to dig it up or alter the structure. This could perhaps be the reason for the recent notice received from the Archaeological Department,” Mr. Rao said.

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