After a long wait, controversial priest of Lord Venkateshwara temple on Tirumala Dr A V Ramana Deekshitulu is going to be back as the head priest of the temple.
Orders to this effect were issued by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), on Friday, following the instructions from the state endowments department.
The order said all those who were forced to retire in May 2018 (during the previous regime of Telugu Desam Party) would be taken back into the temple.
Accordingly, Ramana Deekshitulu would be joining the services of Lord Venkateshwara as the head priest, as he had been in the past till his retirement in May 2018.
Another 10 priests, who retired from the TTD over a period of time, would also be re-joining their duties.
It may be mentioned that in May 2018, the then newly formed TTD trust board unanimously resolved to ask all Archakas who had crossed 65 years of age retire from the temple services.
Ramana Deekshitulu was also forced to retire, within a day of he making serious allegations of corruption in the temple administration.
Following this decision, chief priest Ramana Deekshitulu and three other priests Narasimha Deekshitulu, Srinivasa Murthy Deekshitulu and Narayana Deekshitulu, retired from service.
After the YSR Congress government came to power, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had done away with the rule of retirement for priests performing pujas in various Hindu temples across the state on attainment of age of superannuation.
He issued an order in October 2019 stating that there would be no retirement for the priests of various temples on the basis of age.
“A priest shall continue in the post till he is physically fit to perform his archakatvam (priesthood) duties,” the order said.
However, the order was not made applicable to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, as it is governed by its own rules. As such, Ramana Deekshitulu could not get back his head priest post.
However, the TTD appointed him as Agama advisor and also honourary chief priest but he was not happy with the same.
He has been bringing pressure on the TTD and the government to restore his chief priesthood. Finally, the government took the decision in his favour.