Supreme Court Issues Notice To TN Govt On Plea Alleging Taking Over Of 38,000 Temples By HR&CE Dept

The Supreme Court has sought the response of the Government of Tamil Nadu in a petition alleging that the government indirectly took over the management of around 38,000 temples in the state of Tamil Nadu by appointing executive officers but refraining them from putting in place temple trustees. As per the petition, this has resulted in mismanagement of huge temple funds. The matter was heard by a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha. 

As per the petition , while the Conditions for Appointment of Executive Officers Rules, 2015 limit appointments of Executive Officers to a maximum of five years, the Executive Officers (EOs)appointed by the state government were appointed indefinitely without any conditions prescribed in their appointment orders. The petition states–

"Such usurpation of the management of the temples, it is submitted, is in the teeth of the Subramanian Swamy and Ors. vs. State of Tamil Nadu and Ors. judgement, wherein this Hon'ble Court had categorically re-iterated that "the management of the temple must be handed over to the person concerned immediately after the evil stands remedied" and failure to do so would amount to violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution."

The Petitioner, while detailing several instances of mismanagement of temples by the EOs, has submitted that decisions regarding projects/activities that are worth crores of Rupees are entrusted with such EOs, which has caused immense prejudice to the interest of the Deity and the Devotees of the Temples.

"It is also a matter of concern that the Respondents have placed EOs in several temples with abysmally low income i.e., where chances of mismanagement are remote. This would show that the Respondents have been indiscriminately taking control of several temples without any valid reason and in complete violation of the law," the petition states. 

The counsel for the petitioner, Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan, submitted that the EOs have been diverting temple funds which were created from religious donations by devotees for their salaries and purposes which were not religious in nature. He also stated that in the past 70 years there had been no recorded instance where in the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments department had handed over a temple back to the trustee or the community concerned after it had taken over the administration of temples. 

"It is submitted that there are 36,627 temples and 57 temples which are attached to the Holy Mutts and 17 temples under the denominations of Jains. Out of these temples 88.22% of the temples are under the control of the HR&CE Department and are having an annual income of less than Rs. 10,000/-," the petition submits.

CASE TITLE: Indic Collective Trust v. State of Tamil Nadu| Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s).22710/2022

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