AP Government Issues Orders For Constitution of 21-member Dharmika Parishad Committee

AMARAVATI: The  Andhra Pradesh government has issued orders for constituting a full-fledged Dharmika Parishad with 21 members in the State. The Dharmika Parishad was formed after ten years, under Section 152 of The AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act of 1987.

To this extent, the government has released Government Order Number  571. The government said that the tenure of the Parishad will continue for three years from the date of assumption of office. It is noteworthy that this is the second time that a Dharmika Parishad has been formed both in the united AP and after bifurcation. The Committee services are used to govern the affairs of religious institutions, and for policy decisions taken by the government over the affairs of temples, Mathams, Sathrams, and other Hindu charitable institutions under the purview of the Endowments department.

The 21- member Committee is constituted with the Endowments department Minister as the Chairman, two Mathadhipathis, two Agama Pandits, a retired High Court judge, a retired Principal Special Judge, a retired IAS officer, a charted accountant, a retired Endowments department officer, and two donors who played a key role in the construction of temples, to the governing bodies of various temples and six members who have been appointed by the Government has as chairmen of the governing bodies of temples.

The Chief Secretary of the Endowments  Department, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Executive Officer will be the members, and the Commissioner of Endowments Department will be the Member Secretary (Member Secretary).

Committee members

Names of the remaining 17 people apart from the Endowments Minister, Chief Secretary, Endowments Commissioner, and TTD EO in the Dharmika Parishad include:

-Mathadhipathis: 1) Pedda Jiyyangar Math, Tirumala 2) Pushpagiri Math, YSR Kadapa District

Retired High Court Judge: M Venkata Ramana

Retired Principal Judge: K. Surya Rao

Retired IAS Officer: Ajeya Kallam

Agama Pandits: PVSSR Jagannathacharya, Ch Srirama Sharma

Chartered Accountant: Sri Ramamurthy

Retired Officer of Endowments Department: AB Krishna Reddy (Retired Additional Commissioner)

Donors: S Narasimha Rao, UK Vishwanathraju

Members of Governing Boards of Temples and Sathrams: M. Ramakumar Raju, Bhimavaram (Jagannatharaju Satram), Inuganti Venkata Rohit (Annavaram), Jwala Chaitanya (Yadla Picchaiah Shetty Satram, Kadapa), Chakka Prabhakara Rao (Chaka Vari Satram, Palakollu), Makka Balaji, Ranjan Subhasini

In the Endowments department, the Dharmika Parishad has a wide range of powers as it is the highest committee in the administration and executive affairs of the Endowments department.

Temples with an annual income of less than one crore and more than Rs 25 lakhs come within the scope of the department.

Religious affairs of temples with an annual income of less than one crore, all types of mathams should continue under the complete control of the Parishad. There are a total of 128 mathams in the state including small and big ones. Mantralayam, and Hathiramji Matham also come under this category.

► For temples with an annual income of more than Rs 25 lakhs and less than 1 crore rupees, the governing bodies are appointed under the auspices of the Dharmika Parishad.

► The Parishad plays a key role in the policy decisions taken on the activities of Temples and Sathrams under the purview of the Endowments Department.

► Dharmika Parishad's permission should be taken before the reconstruction of temples that are over a hundred years old.

► Decisions are made in consultation with the Dharmika Parishad in the management of Hindu Dharmic activities.

► According to the rules, the Dharmika Parishad must meet every three months. Meetings can be arranged every month if required.

It may be recollected that during the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh in 2009, the then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy brought a special law and formed the Dharmika Parishad. All the powers vested in the Dharmika Parishad were earlier vested in the Government. As soon as the YS Rajasekhara Reddy government brought the law, for the first time, efforts were made to form a Dharmika Parishad. However, due to his untimely demise, the GO for the formation of the Parishad could not be released. The orders were later released during the K Rosaiah’s time and the Committee was formed. The tenure of the then-formed Parishad ended in 2012.

In 2014, the then government issued a memorandum to form a Dharmika Parishad, but it was canceled before the formation of the Parishad due to the notification of general elections before taking charge.

After that, even though proposals were made from the Endowments department to form a Dharmika Parishad in two phases 2014-19 after the bifurcation of the State, the then TDP government ignored it. According to the rules, they did not come forward to form a full-fledged Dharmika Parishad with 21 members.

The Dharmika Parishad was finally established ten years later, during the tenure of the current YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government.

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