A typical example of the impunity with which the State Endowment Department has operated for decades is the Sri murali Manohar Swamy temple in Kishan Bhag. The late Rajkumar Bharathlal, son of the late raja Triambaklal, a founding family member of the temple, is said to have bequeathed several lands and other assets to the temple in 1964. The State official gazette also reported the same.
But the department didn't wake up till the State Lokayukta sent notices in case number. 1908/2010/B1 ordering endowment authorities and the district collectors of hyderabad and ranga reddy to examine the temple lands and report back by July 27, 2015. By the Lokayukta's directives, a survey of the temple grounds was carried out on june 9 and 10, 2015, which was just over a month ago.
"The matter should be treated urgently as the report needs to be submitted to the Lokayukta on encroachment and stop further illegal activities on endowed landed properties of the Sri murali Manohar Swamy temple, Kishan Bhag, hyderabad, by executive officer Sri murali Manohar Swamy temple," stated the executive officers who answer to the assistant commissioner.
The startling thing is that, after a 51-year gap, the department now feels compelled to intervene to protect temple property from more encroachment. According to the government's records, landed holdings around the temple are being overrun by encroachers. The department said that the properties were still held in the names of the late raja Triambak Lal's family members and others. For this reason, they asked the Lokayukta to grant permission for the property to be renamed in favor of the Sri murali Manohar Swamy temple, also known as the Kishan Bagh temple in Hyderabad.
Additionally, they said, "Title and entitlement be granted in favor of the temple so that the encroachers of the endowed landed property can be dealt with further." The problem now is that after 51 years, United andhra pradesh amended the first Endowment Act 17 of 1966 in 1987, and Act No 24 of 2017 further altered the TSCHRIE Act, 1987.
It covers the whole State of telangana and went into effect on june 2, 2014. Why didn't the department ever consider transferring ownership of the temple and altering its lands? The devotees claim that the endowment department personnel were complicit in the encroachments and may have been under pressure from succeeding administrations, allowing them to grow unchecked.