Hyderabad: In a significant move aimed at toning up the administration of temples across the state, the state law department has approved a crucial amendment to the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act of 1987. This reform will soon be deliberated upon in a cabinet meeting before being presented in the assembly.
The amendment will facilitate formation of trust boards for temples generating over Rs 100 crore revenue annually—akin to the highly successful model of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). The move is set to bring in greater transparency and efficiency in the management of major temples across the state, sources said.
Temples such as Yadadri’s Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, and the Sri Raja Rajeswara Swamy Devasthanam in Vemulawada—currently the only temples with an annual income exceeding Rs 100 crore—will now have their own dedicated trust boards to oversee administration. In addition, the amendment seeks to reform the existing hereditary trustee system, ensuring hereditary trustees are included as members of the newly-established temple boards.
The state govt has the authority to implement changes under section 151 of the Act. It could either introduce a specific amendment for the Yadadri temple, as the original proposal stemmed from a desire to create a board for its management, or amend the Act as a whole, a source said.
Ultimately, the govt opted for a comprehensive revision, which will redefine the classification of temples into categories A, B, and C based on their incomes. Under the existing system, the highest-income temples are placed in category A, but this amendment will remove temples earning more than Rs 100 crore from category A and establish dedicated boards for their management, similar to the TTD system.
The amended structure will see boards consisting of 10 to 11 members, plus five ex-officio members. It is expected that key govt officials, including the chief secretary or principal secretary of the endowments department, will be part of the board. However, local MLAs and MPs will not automatically have a representation on these boards—though this could change before the amendment is finalised.
The Congress govt believes that board members, including the chairman, will be appointed based on their ability to contribute meaningfully to the development of the temple.
Currently, the Yadadri temple holds the highest annual income at Rs 230 crore, followed by the Vemulawada temple with Rs 160 crore. Notably, the Yadadri temple’s income has grown substantially since 2020, when it was generating Rs 80 crore.
Looking ahead, temples like the Sri Gnana Saraswati Devasthanam in Basara, the Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam in Bhadrachalam, and the Anjaneya Swamy temple in Kondagattu are expected to join the Rs 100 crore income category in the near future.