Procedure for making appointments of trustees and their term

(1) In making the appointment of trustees under section 15 the Government, the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner or the Assistant Commissioner, as the case may be, shall have due regard to the religious denomination or any section thereof to which the institution belongs or the endowment is made and the wishes of the founder: Provided that the founder or one of the members of the family of the founder, if qualified as prescribed shall be appointed as one of the Trustees. “Explanation I : ‘Founder’ means,- (a) in respect of Institution or Endowments exiting at the commencement of this Act, the person who was recognized as Hereditary Trustee under the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1966 or a Member of his family recognized the Competent Authority; (b) In respect of an Institution or Endowment established after such commencement, the person who has founded such Institution or Endowment or a member of his family and recognized as such by the competent authority. Explanation – II. ‘Member of the family of the founder’ means children, grant children and so in agnatic line of succession for the time being in force and declared or recognised as such by the relevant appointing authority. Explanation – III. Those persons who founded temples by collecting donations partly or fully from the public as well as those who founded them on public lands hall not be recongnised as founder trustees by any means. (2) Every trustee appointed under section 15 shall hold office for a term of two years from the date of taking oath of office and secrecy: Provided that the Government may for good and sufficient reason in public interest remove a Trustee from office before the expiry of the two year term. (3) The procedure for calling for application for appointment of trustees, verification of antecedents and other matters shall be such as may be prescribed. “Provided that this provision shall not be applicable to (1) Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Vari Devasthanam, Simhachalam, Visakhapatnam District; (2) Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy Vari Devasthanam, Annavaram, East Godavari District; (3) Sri Venkateswara Swamy Vari Devasthanam, Dwaraka Thirumala, West Godavari District (Chinna Tirupathi); (4) Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy varla Devasthanam, Vijayawada, Krishna District; (5) Sri Kalahasteeswara Swamy vari Devasthanam, Srikalahasti, Chittoor District; (6) Sri Bramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamyvarla Devasthanam, Srisailam, Kurnool District; (7) Sri Lakshmi Tirupatamma Ammavari Temple, Penugachiprolu, Krishna District; and (8) Sri Swayambhu Varasidhi Vinayakaswamy Vari Devasthanam, Kanipakam, Chittoor District. (4) No person shall be a trustee in more than one Board of Trustees. (5) In every Board of Trustees, there shall be 50 percent reservation out of the total number of nominated members (after excluding the ex-officio members) to the candidate belonging to SC, ST, BC communities. Provided that out of the total nominated members (after excluding the ex-officio members) 50 percent of members shall be women. (6) All properties belonging to a charitable or religious institution or endowment, which on the date of commencement of this Act, are in the possession or under the superintendence of the Government, Zilla Praja Parishad, Municipality or other local authority or any company, society, organisation, institution or other person or any committee, superintendent or manager appointed by the Government, shall, on the date on which a Board of Trustees is or is deemed to have been constituted or a trustee is or is deemed to have appointed under this section, stand transferred to such Board of Trustees or trustee thereof, as the case may be and all assets vesting in the Government, local authority or person aforesaid and all liabilities subsisting against such Government, local authority or person on the said date shall, devolve on the institution or endowment, as the case may be.