Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the state government to first settle a long-pending dispute over which set of Hindu rituals should be followed at a temple in Palakurthi before going ahead with the recruitment of priests there.
The court asked the authorities not to proceed with a notification issued in November last year to fill priest posts at the Sri Someshwara Laxminarasimha Swamy Devasthanam until the government decides, through a formal order, whether the temple should follow the “Shaiva Agama” tradition, which reveres Lord Shiva as the Supreme Reality, or the “Vaidika Smartha Agama” tradition, a system of worship associated with the Smarta community.
Justice Surepalli Nanda directed the state to issue notices to all concerned parties and pass a reasoned order on the ritual dispute within three weeks. “Till the above exercise is initiated and concluded… the respondents are directed not to proceed further in pursuance to the impugned notification,” the court said, referring to the recruitment notice dated November 23, 2025.
What the dispute is about
The case was brought by a group of priests, or “archakas,” who said their families had served the temple for six generations and over 150 years. They challenged the November 2025 notification, which advertised three priest posts and one assistant cook’s post, on the ground that it laid down eligibility rules based on the Vaidika Smartha Agama tradition even though the temple had historically followed Shaiva Agama practices.
According to the petitioners, they had repeatedly written to the temple authorities asking that the eligibility criteria be corrected to reflect the Shaiva Agama tradition, but said their representations were ignored and that no notice or inquiry was carried out before the ritual practice was altered.
Telangana government’s stand
The state’s Endowments Department, which administers Hindu temples, opposed the petition. It told the High Court that an order passed by the Assistant Commissioner in 2021, which had actually changed the temple’s ritual procedure from Vaidika Smartha Agama to Shaiva Agama, had already been put on hold by the Commissioner, Endowments Department, through an order dated June 15, 2022.
That 2022 order had directed that the temple continue with its existing practice under the Vaidika Smartha Agama tradition, in line with the customs followed at the shrine. The department argued that the priests had never legally challenged this 2022 order, which meant it still held good.
What the court ordered
The High Court noted that the priests did not dispute that the 2022 order existed and held that their proper legal recourse was to file an appeal against it under Section 93 of the Telangana Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987, the law that governs disputes relating to state-run temples.
The court disposed of the petition, directing the priests to approach the state government within a week. It further directed the government to hear all parties concerned and pass a reasoned order on the ritual dispute within three weeks after that. Until the government takes a final call, the court said, the authorities cannot go ahead with the priest recruitment process.
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