Probe into Mansas, Simhachalam lands gains pace 

VISAKHAPATNAM: Probe into MANSAS Trust and Simhachalam temple land issues gained pace with the appointment of deputy endowment commissioner EV Puspavardhan as the enquiry officer by the endowment special commissioner P Arjuna Rao. The commissioner directed the executive officers of MANSAS and Simhachalam to cooperate with the enquiry officer. 

Puspavardhan has been asked to submit an interim report within 10 days on the alleged irregularities and deletion of land details from the register. Speaking to TNIE, Pushpavardhan said on Monday that enquiry into both Simhachalam and MANSAS issues was going on simultaneously. He said the digitisation of all land records of about 14,475 acres of MANSAS trust was completed by Friday. Further, a survey of the lands will be undertaken by revenue teams under the supervision of the joint collectors of Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.

With regard to Simhachalam lands, the official said he will submit a report if there are irregularities or tampering of land records. Four tahsildars and four deputy collectors will be appointed to survey Simhachalam lands. The final report will be submitted within a month. Action will be taken after the submission of the report following field verification. The endowment commissioner has surrendered the then EO of Simhachalam Ramachandra Mohan during whose tenure land records of Simhachalam temple and MANSAS trust were reportedly tampered with between 2013 and 2019.

The special commissioner in his order said Ramachandra Mohan deleted large extent of land of  Simhachalam temple from  Section 22 (A)(!)(C) in violation of the rules.  Ramachandra Mohan had also committed irregularities with regard to lands of MANSAS Trust. 

Meanwhile, Vizianagaram district audit officer S Hima Bindu visited MANSAS office at Vizianagaram and sought records. Hima Bindu said an audit of MANSAS has not been done since 2004. It was the responsibility of the trust to get the auditing done, she said.

Himabindu asked MANSAS staff to submit audit (receipts and charges) reports of its temples, lands, educational institutions and other assets from 2004 to 2021. Owing to the absence of EO and some other staff, the audit reports were not ready. The office staff sought more time to submit all the reports. 

MANSAS STAFF SEEK TIME 

The MANSAS office staff sought more time to submit all the reports. Hima Bindu directed the staff to keep ready all the audit reports from 2004 to 2021 as early as possible.