Secunderabad Mahankali temple EO awarded one month jail

Hyderabad: Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar of the Telangana High Court sentenced Manohar Reddy, the executive officer of the Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad, to one month of simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 for contempt of court.

The imprisonment, however, is suspended for 15 days to allow Reddy to seek legal remedies.

This ruling came in response to a petition by Rakesh Agaiduty, who accused Reddy of deliberately ignoring a court order from June 13, 2024, which mandated the temple to extend Agaiduty’s lease for collecting sarees at the temple by five months, starting July 1, 2024.

Despite receiving multiple reminders, including a registered letter on June 14, 2024, and a legal notice on July 6, 2024, Manohar Reddy, the executive officer of the Ujjaini Mahankali temple, disregarded the court’s order to extend Rakesh Agaiduty’s lease for collecting sarees at the temple by five months starting July 1, 2024. 

Agaiduty repeatedly urged the court to enforce its directive, but Reddy failed to take any action. During the contempt proceedings, Reddy’s counsel argued that an appeal against the order had been filed, but it was dismissed by a division bench of the Telangana High Court on July 19, 2024. 

Although Reddy subsequently filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court, no stay order was granted to suspend the implementation of the High Court’s ruling.