Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala – Modern Times

Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala – Modern Times

In AD 1843, the East India Company divested itself of the direct management of non-Christian places of worship and native religious institutions. The administration of the shrine of Sri Venkateswara and a number of estates were then entrusted to Sri Sevadasji of the Hathiramji Mutt at Tirumala, and the temple remained under the administration of the Mahants for nearly a century, till AD 1933. In 1933, the Madras Legislature passed a special act, which empowered the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Committee to control and administer a fixed group of temples in the Tirumala-Tirupati area, through a Commissioner appointed by the Government of Madras. In 1951, the Act of 1933 was replaced by an enactment whereby the administration of TTD was entrusted to a Board of Trustees, and an Executive Officer was appointed by the Government. The provisions of the Act of 1951 were retained by Charitable and Religious Endowments Act, 1966.