INDIA, January 7, 2018 (India Today): The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) which manages the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateshwara in Tirumala of Andhra Pradesh has issued notices to 44 non-Hindu employees asking them to submit their explanation [of how they as non-Hindus got hired] before removing them. Till the year 1989, there was no restriction on recruitment process in TTD, but between 1989 to 2007, the recruitment of persons professing Hindu religion was applied only to non-teaching category. However, after the amended rule of 2007, non-Hindus can’t be employed in either teaching or non-teaching categories of TTD.
The rationale behind this amendment is that Tirumala Tirupati does not allow anyone from alien faith inside the temple without making a signed declaration that they believe in the deity Lord Balaji. Recently, the TTD vigilance and enforcement head Ake Ravi Krishna submitted a report which found that 44 non-Hindu men and women were working in different wings of the temple. Now TTD is planning to deploy them to other Andhra Pradesh government departments in the equivalent cadres and scales.