Telangana High Court Halts Priest Recruitment At Palakurthi Temple Till State Decides Dispute Over Change In Ritual Procedure

The Telangana High Court has directed the State Government to decide a long-pending dispute over the ritual tradition followed at Sri Someshwara Laxminarasimha Swamy Devasthanam, Palakurthi, before proceeding with recruitment to religious posts in the temple. [2026 LiveLaw (Tel) 106]

The Court also directed the authorities not to proceed with the recruitment notification for filling priest posts until the Government passes a reasoned order on the change of ritual procedure from "Shaiva Agama" (scriptures that revere Lord Shiva as the Supreme Reality) to "Vaidika Smartha Agama" (system of temple worship codified for followers of the Smarta tradition).

Justice Surepalli Nanda observed:

"The respondent No.1 is directed to consider the same in accordance to law by issuing notices to all concerned and pass appropriate reasoned orders, on the subject issue pertaining to the change of ritual procedure from 'Shaiva Agama' to 'Vaidika Smartha Agama' within a period of three (3) weeks thereafter. Till the above exercise is initiated and concluded... the respondents are directed not to proceed further in pursuance to the impugned notification dated 23.11.2025."

The petitioners, who claimed to be hereditary Archakas serving the temple for over six generations and more than 150 years, challenged a recruitment notification issued on November 23, 2025 for three priest posts and one Assistant Cook post. They contended that the notification prescribed eligibility based on Vaidika Smartha Agama, although the temple had historically followed the Shaiva Agama tradition.

The petitioners submitted that they had repeatedly represented to the authorities requesting that the eligibility criteria be corrected by replacing "Vaidika Smartha Agama" with "Shaiva Agama". They alleged that the authorities neither considered their representations nor issued any notice or conducted an enquiry before altering the ritual practice followed in the temple.

The Endowments Department opposed the petition, contending that an order passed by the Assistant Commissioner in 2021 changing the ritual procedure from Vaidika Smartha Agama to Shaiva Agama had already been kept in abeyance by the Commissioner, Endowments Department, through a Memo dated June 15, 2022. The Commissioner had directed continuation of the old practice "as per Vaidika Smartha Agama as well as... the sampradayam being followed in the subject Devasthanam." It was argued that the petitioners had never challenged the Commissioner's Memo, which had therefore attained finality.

The Court noted that the petitioners did not dispute the existence of the Commissioner's Memo dated June 15, 2022. It observed that the proper remedy available to them was to file an appeal under Section 93 of the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 against that Memo.

Accordingly, the Court disposed of the writ petition by directing the petitioners to approach the State Government within one week. It directed the Government to issue notice to all concerned parties and pass a reasoned order on the dispute relating to the change in ritual procedure from Shaiva Agama to Vaidika Smartha Agama within three weeks thereafter. Pending that decision, the Court restrained the authorities from proceeding further with the impugned recruitment notification.

Case Title: Devagiri Venkata Rajeshwara Sharma & Ors. v. State of Telangana & Ors.

Case No.: W.P. No. 13524 of 2026

Appearance: Sri R. Chandrashekar Reddy for the petitioners; Assistant Government Pleader for Endowments for respondent Nos. 1 to 5; Sri Ch. Satish Kumar, Standing Counsel for Sri Someshwar Laxminarasimha Swamy Devasthanam, for respondent No. 6.

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Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Tel) 106