HYDERABAD: Coming down heavily on administrators of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) for issuing 'show-cause notices' to non-Hindu employees on the ground that they are not eligible to render service in TTD, the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday directed the temple brass not to terminate employees now.

"We will adjudicate the matter and find out why this sudden posture by authorities when they have not made any mention about such rules when recruiting these employees two decades ago. If there are such rules, then we will verify the constitutional validity of such rules", the bench of acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K Vijaya Lakshmi said. The court was hearing a plea by 36 Muslim and Christian employees, challenging the recent show-cause notices issued to them.

Apart from questioning the TTD's action, these employees challenged the constitutional validity of rule 9(6) of employees service rules which prohibits non-Hindus from being engaged in TTD.

Their counsel Jonnalagadda Sudheer told court they have been working in TTD without any complaint for decades and now they are facing termination.

They had even given an undertaking at the time of joining the service they will respect Hindu traditions, the counsel said. He also raised doubts about the influence of the external forces in this sudden stance.

The bench expressed dismay at the tone and content of notices issued by TTD. The bench reminded that TTD is running various institutions like hospitals and educational institutions. The bench said the petitioners did not suppress the fact that they are non-Hindus. Executive officers who did not notify at the time of recruitment about Rule 9(6), are equally guilty.

"If you are planning to take action against these poor employees under 9(6), first take action against the executive officer and other higher authorities, who took them despite the existence of the 9(6). When you are allowing even foreigners to enter the temple, why this discrimination against the staff? We will examine the validity of the rule itself by Wednesday. Till then don't terminate any of the employees", the bench told the TTD. The case was posted to Monday for further hearing.

