Govt plans to reconstitute endowments department

HYDERABAD: The government has decided to reconstitute the endowments department to enable it to manage the lands under its control.
The department — which handles more than Rs 400 crore funds — was recently in the news following a scandal involving a few senior officers over the publication of material, apparently without government sanction.
According to the new plan, all the three additional commissioners who function from the commissioner’s office will be shifted and made in charge of three regions in the state.The posts of additional commissioners currently held by S Aruna Kumari, A B Krishna Reddy and G Krishna Murthy will be abolished. Henceforth, they will be called regional commissioners with their headquarters at Tirupati, Kakinada and Warangal.
There will be one regional commissioner for the districts between Srikakulam and Krishna; one for Rayalaseema, Guntur, Nellore and Ongole; and another regional commissioner for the Telangana region. For the first time since it’s creation, the office of the endowments commissioner will function without the additional commissioners.
The restructuring will enable the endowments department to keep a close watch on three to four lakh acres of temple lands. The government move comes in the wake of Supreme Court and high court judgments that the Tenancy Act would not apply to temple lands. Following the court order, the department had increased the lease rates. The lease amount which was around Rs 12 crore per annum has now gone up to Rs 40 crore.
Disclosing this during an exclusive interview to The Times of India, endowments minister Dandu Sivarama Raju said that the proposal has been approved by the government and the new regional commissioners would be instructed to stay at their headquarters.
He said that the post of regional joint commissioners (RJC) would be abolished and they would be accommodated at different temples. The appellate functions of the RJC would now be vested with the regional commissioners. The government has also appointed an officer from the revenue department in the rank of special grade deputy collector in the office of the endowments commissioner exclusively to take care the lands.