The final decision on how to implement the High Court's direction in respect of lands belonging to Sri Durga Malleswara Swamivarla Devasthanam that were in the possession of Siddhartha Academy of General and Technical Education would be taken by the Endowments Commissioner on Saturday, district Collector Peeyush Kumar said on Thursday.
He was addressing a meeting with Devasthanam Executive Officer N. Vijaya Kumar, Endowments Department Assistant Commissioner Sarada Kumari, Siddhartha Academy president S.V. Vishnuvardhana Rao, vice-president M. Rajaiah and secretary N. Venkateswarlu, besides other officials.
The meeting was held as a follow-up to two meetings held earlier, when representatives of Siddhartha Academy were asked to decide whether they would like to hand over the lands and the buildings to the Endowments Department, or pay lease amount on a par with prevailing market value of lands.
Representatives of the Siddhatha Academy said their main concern was to save the careers of students and, hence, they were urging the authorities to allot the temple lands on a lease basis to run the educational institutions.
The district Collector informed them of the decision of the Endowments Minister to convene a meeting with the higher officials of the department to decide on allotment of the land on new lease rates.
As the Endowments Commissioner was scheduled to visit the city on Saturday, a meeting would be held with the temple officials on that day and a judicious decision taken on the issue.
If the Siddhartha Academy agreed to pay the lease amount as fixed by the officials, it would be permitted to run the educational institutions with the consent of the High Court, Mr. Peeyush Kumar made clear.
