HYDERABAD, INDIA, April 29, 2016 (The Hindu): The final hearing on a long-pending writ petition in the Supreme Court filed by Swamy Dayananda Saraswathi to free temples from government control and challenging the Endowments Acts of three States will commence in July.
The decision brought cheer to the Temple Protection Movement (TPM) active in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana which had filed the intervener petition against the A.P. Endowments Amendment Act 8 of 2014.
The issue gained momentum after the main writ petition (WP 476 of 2012) filed by Swamy Dayananda Saraswathi and others challenging the Constitutionality of endowments acts of three States – Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry was listed for final hearing in Supreme Court on July 13.
[Under these acts, nearly all Hindu temples in India are under the management of government-appointed officials, but not minority institutions have not so been taken over, even though in theory the act would allow the government to take over a church or mosque.]