CHALLA KODANDA RAM, J.

1. These Writ Petitions filed by various religious institutions, charitable endowment trusts and some of the trustees/Executive Officers of temples are heard together, as, they all, in essence, questioned either invocation of the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (for short, 'the 2005 Act') with respect to their organizations or the circulars issued by the government directing the respective organizations to designate and constitute 'Public Information Officers' and other officers to operationalize the mechanism for providing information under the 2005 Act.

2. Insofar as State of Telangana is concerned, counter-affidavits filed in W.P. No. 21677 of 2007 is requested to be taken as a common counter-affidavit in all the Writ Petitions and insofar as the State of Andhra Pradesh is concerned, they have also filed a common counter-affidavit, to be treated as the one in respect of all the Writ Petitions. In addition, on behalf of the State of Andhra Pradesh, the letter addressed by the Commissioner, Endowments Department, to the learned Government Pleader bearing No. Lr.In.RC. No. U1/Courts/13703/2012, dated 20.07.2018 was placed on record. The essence of the said letter is that the 2005 Act cannot be made applicable to the details regarding rituals that are being performed in the temples as per Agama Sastra. In the said communication, it was further stated that there is no governmental/budgetary support to the temples/religious or charitable institutions and hence, they are not receiving any funds from the government either for its administration or governance and further the government has no role in establishing the temples or religious institutions.

3. In all these cases, the issue raised being purely a question of law, ie. to deal with interpretation of the provisions of the 2005 Act or some or the other provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions & Endowments Act, 1987 (for short, 'the Act'), it is not necessary to set out, in detail, the factual scenario. However, for convenience sake, the prayer, averments in the affidavit filed in support of Writ Petition No. 21677 of 2007 and the stand taken by the respondents in their respective counter-affidavits are briefly summarized hereunder:

"To declare the proceedings in Rc. No. K3/32011/07, dated 27.09.2007 of the 3rd respondent Commissioner, Endowments Department, whereby the Executive Authority of Sri Venkateswara Swamy Devasthanam, Chikkadpally was requested to furnish the information sought by the applicant - the 4th respondent herein directly as per Rules under Section 6(3)(ii) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, under intimation to the said office, as arbitrary and illegal and consequently, to declare that the subject temple is not a 'public authority' under the 2005 Act, the petitioner who is a Founder Family Member, filed the Writ Petition."

4. The case of the petitioner is that his paternal grandfather late Sri Gudidevuni Jangaiah Goud constructed the subject temple and he was the founder of the same. While so, the Deputy Commissioner of Endowments declared the petitioner as hereditary trustee, by order dated 23.05.1987 in O.A. No. 1 of 1987. According to the petitioner, Section 23 of the 1987 Act governs the powers of the trustee to administer the affairs, management and the properties of the temple.

5. While the matter stood thus, it is the further case of the petitioner that the 4th respondent herein applied to the Executive Officer of the subject temple seeking information under the 2005 Act and the Executive Officer, in turn, sought clarification from the Commissioner of Endowments. The 3rd respondent Deputy Commissioner vide proceedings impugned, requested the Executive Officer to furnish the information as sought by the 4th respondent. It is also the further case of the petitioner that though Act 22 of 2005 was enacted to provide information to the citizens, to curtail corruption and to hold