Temples Protection Movement (TPM) convener M.V. Soundararajan has demanded that till the Hindu Temple Freedom petition pending in the Supreme Court against the Andhra Pradesh Endowments Amendment Act 8 of 2014 is disposed, the State Government should not be allowed to pay remuneration to the Endowment Department officials from the hundi collection of temples.
Intervener petition
Dr. Soundararajan earlier filed an intervener petition in September, 2016 in the Special Leave Petition tagged to Swami Dayananda Saraswathi’s petition which is popular as Hindu Temple Freedom Petition. Mr. Soundararajan filed an additional affidavit on Friday to submit more information related to mismanagement of temples, plight of low income temples in the Supreme Court, according to a TPM release. The petitioner objected to the AP Endowments Amendment Act 8 of 2014 passed by the Telugu Desam government after bifurcation as it goes against provisions of Endowment Act 33 of 2007 passed in the combined State of Andhra Pradesh to safeguard against politicisation of temple administration
Citing a ruling in Chidambaram temple judgement and SDG Pandara Sannati case, Dr. Soundararajan in his petition said that the levy collected from Hindu devotees towards endowments administration fund to fund salaries of the endowment officials is a tax on Hindu devotees which is beyond the competence of the State Government to levy.