A bench of the state High Court, comprising of Justice B Prakasha Rao and Justice R Kantha Rao, on Monday, refused to permit the gold-plating of the sanctum sanctorum of the main temple at Tirumala.
Disposing off the petition filed by Sounder Rajan of Chilukuru Balaji temple and one T Raghava challenging the gold-plating of the sanctum sanctorum, the bench directed the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam authorities to stop the project as it may pose a "severe threat" to the inscriptions and weaken the structure.
Earlier, the bench had reserved its order on petitions challenging the project plating.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) informed the High Court Bench that the proposed gold-plating of the walls of the temple may pose a severe threat to the inscriptions and damage them.
The ASI has said that covering the walls with copper plates coated with gold may encourage the formation of moss and lichen and produce acids which will cause irreparable damage.
Agreeing with the ASI report, the court directed the TTD to stop the project as the sensitive work did not have the sanction of the Agama pundits.
The TTD authorities had claimed that the gold-plating works will not obliterate the inscriptions on walls inside and outside the temple prakaram as they were already digitised with the help of archaeological experts hailing from Mysore.
The High Court bench had, on April 21, passed an interim stay order on the works, following a petition by a city-based devotee Raghava Reddy, who pleaded that the gold-plating works posed a danger to the ancient writings, engravings and art forms which adorn the walls of the temple.
Out of 250 kg of gold required for the project, more than 180 kg was donated by devotees that included Karnataka ministers and top businessmen.
The total scheme costs Rs. 1,000 crore and needs 200 kg of gold. The TTD aimed to complete the project with internal revenues and gold donations from philanthropists under a special donation scheme titled Ananda Nilayam Ananta Swarnamayam Pathakam.