HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.4702 of 2010 ORDER: Heard Sri M.Vidyasagar, learned counsel for the petitioner, the Learned Government Pleader for Endowments and Sri V.T.M.Prasad, learned Standing Counsel for the second respondent-Temple. At their request the writ petition is being disposed of at the stage of admission. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the second respondent-Temple. This writ petition is filed questioning the notice in Form-I issued by the Commissioner of Endowments, vide proceedings dated 11.01.2010, inviting applications for constituting a Board of Trustees under Section 15(2) of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 (Act 30 of 1987) to Sri Aradhagiri Veeranjaneya Swamy Devastanam, Aragonda Village, Tavanampally Mandal, Chittoor District. The petitioner is a member of the founder’s family of the second respondent-Temple and has been recognized as such by the Deputy Commissioner of Endowments in his order in O.A.No. 11 of 2007 dated 28.08.2008. While an appeal against the said order is said to be pending before this Court, the interim order passed earlier was not extended as a result of which the order of the Deputy Commissioner continued to remain in force. The gross income of the second respondent- Temple for the year 2008-09 was Rs.95,10,460/- and its net assessable income is Rs.88,44,000/-. As such appointment, to the board of trustees, has to be made by the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad under Section 15(1) of the Act. The petitioner’s grievance, in short, is that the notice prescribed under Rule 4(1) in Form-I has not been issued by the Dharmika Parishad but by the Commissioner of Endowments. It is necessary, therefore, to extract the notice issued in Form-I: Office of the Commissioner, Endowments Department, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. Form-I (See Rule 4(1)) Notice No.H2/4513/2009, Dt: 11.01.2010 Name of the Temple: Sri Aradhagiri Veeranjaneya Swamy Devastanam, Aragonda Village, Tavanampally Mandal, Chittoor District. It is herewith informed that Sri Aradhagiri Veeranjaneya Swamy Devastanam, situated in Aragonda Village, Tavanampally Mandal, Chittoor District, Endowments Department under Section 15(2) r/w Act.30 of 1987 wishes to constitute Board of Trustees and the same is to be made by the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad after 20 days. Hence, interested persons may apply for being appointed as trustees within 20 days from the date of issuing of this notice under Act 30 of 1987 and under Section 17(3) and as per the procedure the applications has to be made in form-II to the Commissioner-cum-Member Secretary, Dharmika Parishad, o/o the Commissioner, Endowments Department, Tilak Road, Hyderabad – 500 001 and the same may be sent to the said address. Sd/ P.Sundara Kumar, Commissioner & Member Secretary, Dharmika Parishad. /forwarded by order/ Sd/- xxxxxxxx, Superintendent While the notice was issued from the office of the Commissioner of Endowments, applications were invited from persons interested in being appointed as trustees. They were called upon to submit their applications, within 20 days from the date of the notice, in Form-II to the Commissioner-cum-Member Secretary, Dharmika Parishad in the office of the Commissioner of Endowments. The said notice makes it clear that the board of trustees would be appointed by the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad after 20 days. The said notice is issued by the Commissioner and the Member Secretary of the Dharmika Parishad. The sole ground of challenge to the notice dated 11.01.2010 by Sri M.Vidyasagar, learned counsel for the petitioner, is that it is the Dharmika Parishad which is itself required to issue the notice and not the Commissioner, more so, in the absence of the said notice reflecting the power to issue notice having been delegated by the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad to the Commissioner. Learned counsel would rely on a Division Bench judgment of this Court in S.V. Sudhakara Rao v. The Government of Andhra Pradesh (W.P.No. 19950 of 2007 dated 27.03.2008) in this regard. Sri V.T.M.Prasad, learned Standing Counsel for the second respondent-Temple, would submit that the office of the Dharmika Parishad is situated in the premises of the office of the Commissioner of Endowments and as such the address in the notice was given as the office of the Commissioner of Endowments; the notice issued by the Commissioner was not in his capacity as the Commissioenr but as the Member Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad; and the very fact that the applicants were informed, by way of the said notice, that appointments would be made only by the Dharmika Parishad would show that the requirements of Section 15(1) of the Act had been complied with. The Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Appointment of Trustees Rules, 1987 were notified in G.O.Ms.No.258, Revenue (Endowments-I) dated 31.03.1988. Under Rule 4(1) thereof, the authority competent to appoint trustees shall forthwith, on a report received under Rule 3, cause publication of the notice in Form-I. Under Rule 5(1), the applications for the appointment of the Trustee shall be submitted in Form-II. Rule 6(1) requires the competent authority, before appointing trustees, to cause verification of the antecedents either through his subordinate officers or to himself verify the antecedents. Rule 7 requires the competent authority to scrutinize the applications and pass orders appointing the trustees. Under Rule 8 the competent authority shall, while appointing trustees, have due regard to the qualifications and disqualifications for trusteeship. Section 152 of Act 30 of 1987, which relates to the constitution of the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad, has been inserted by amending Act 33 of 2007 with effect from 03.01.2008. The rules in G.O.Ms.No.258, dated 31.03.1988 were made much prior to the constitution of Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad. Section 152 of the Act empowers the Government, by notification, to constitute the ‘Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad’ consisting of members specified therein. Under Section 152(1)(iii), the Commissioner of Endowments is a Member of the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad as also its Member Secretary. The notice issued by him in Form-I is as the Commissioner and Member Secretary of the Dharmika Parishad. The notice informs all the applicants that appointment to the Board of Trustees is to be made by the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad. Ministerial acts, such as issuing a notice on behalf of an authority which is a body consisting of several members is, ordinarily, undertaken by the Member Secretary concerned. The notice impugned in this writ petition, issued by the Commissioner and the Member Secretary, cannot be faulted on this ground. It is wholly unnecessary for this Court to examine whether there has been a specific delegation of powers to issue a notice to the Commissioner in as much as the Commissioner has been designated under Section 152(1)(iii) of Act 30 of 1987 as the Member Secretary and the impugned notice is but a ministerial act inviting applications. Reliance placed on the judgment of the division bench in S.V. Sudhakara Rao v. The Government of Andhra Pradesh (W.P.No. 19950 of 2007 dated 27.03.2008) is also misplaced. In the said case the notification issued by the Additional Commissioner of Endowments in Form-I was under challenge on the ground that it was the Government which was the competent authority to appoint the board of trustees. The Division Bench, on interpreting Rule 4 of the Rules notified in G.O.Ms.No.258 dated 31.03.1988, observed that it was only the competent authority prescribed under the Rules which was empowered to “cause publication” and not any other authority under Section 15(1)(b) of the Act. At the time when the impugned notice in W.P.No. 19950 of 2007 was passed the board of trustees in case of temples whose income exceeds Rs.10.00 lakhs was required to be constituted by the Commissioner; in respect of religious institutions under Section 6(b), Section 15(2) of the Act empowered the Deputy Commissioner to constitute the board of trustees; and in cases where the annual income exceeded the prescribed limit, Section 15 of the Act conferred powers on the Government to constitute the board of trustees. The ceiling with regards the income as prescribed under Section 15(1), which fell for consideration before the Division Bench in S.V. Sudhakara Rao v. The Government of Andhra Pradesh (W.P.No. 19950 of 2007 dated 27.03.2008), was subsequently raised by way of an amendment to Act 30 of 1987. The Division Bench observed that the Additional Commissioner did not have jurisdiction to appoint the board of trustees and he could not have caused publication of the notice. In the case on hand, the Commissioner has not issued the notice in his individual capacity but as the Member Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad. The notice also makes it clear that appointments to the board of trustees shall only be by Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad. It is not as if the Commissioner was seeking to appoint the board of trustees and had invited applications in this regard. I see no reason, therefore, to interdict the said notice. It is, however, made clear that appointment shall be made to board of trustees of the second respondent-Temple only by way of an order by the Andhra Pradesh Dharmika Parishad as a body and not by any other authority prescribed under Section 15 of the Act, be it the Government or the Commissioner. The Writ Petition is, accordingly, disposed of. However, in the circumstances, without costs. RAMESH RANGANATHAN,J Date:17.03.2010 Note:Furnish copy within one week. bo usd