Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Alleging Deputation of Government Employees For Administration Of Hindu Temples In Tamil Nadu

The Supreme Court, on Friday, issued notice in a plea alleging deputation of Government employees for administration of Hindu Temples in Tamil Nadu, in derogation of the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959. Senior Advocate, Mr. C.S. Vaidyanathan, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that the act of deputing government servants 'wipes out the separation of State and religion'. As per Section 55(1) of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, trustees of respective temples are the sole authorities to appoint employees for the administration of the temples. The petition highlights that in 19,000 non-hereditary temples in the State of Tamil Nadu no trustees have been appointed by the concerned authorities in the past 11 years. Mr. Vaidyanathan emphasised that due to the inaction of the State Government trustees have not been appointed for more than a decade and it is now trying to fill that void by deputing Government employees, thus, rendering the provisions of the legislation otiose. "Trustees have not been appointed because of the inaction of the Govt, now they have brought in Government employees."He added that the temples in the State of Tamil Nadu are being treated as Government Departments - "In a secular State temples cannot be treated as a part of the Government. It is unfortunate that 46,000 temples are now under the control of the State. We have challenged the validity of that. Now, the Government employees are being sent there. It is being treated as a department of the Government."Curious, Justice Chandrachud enquired, "We wanted to understand what happens then….how many Govt. employees have been deputed to the temples now?"Mr. Vaidyanathan submitted that he would file an additional affidavit in this regard. Accordingly, making the notice returnable in six weeks, the Bench noted that - "Senior Advocate, Mr. C.S. Vaidyanathan states that a further affidavit would be filed indicting- (1) number of temples in Tamil Nadu where no trustees are appointed;(2) number of temples in which Govt. officials have been deputed."It also granted 3 weeks' time to the State and the Commissioner, Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department of the State Government to file their counter affidavit. Elaborating on the issue, Mr. Vaidyanathan submitted that in hereditary temples the Government does not make any appointments. The interference of the Government is only with respect to administration of the non-hereditary temples. The same was assailed by the Senior Advocate. Justice Chandrachud noted, "In many States in India that is permissible because, you know, to prevent misuse of the funds of the temple."Considering the issue at hand, the Judge reckoned that there is another approach to the concern of the petition. He indicated that if Government employees are deputed to look after the administration of the temples, it would take away from their precious time that they could have spent resolving other pressing affairs. "There is another way of looking at it, that Govt. officers have other work - looking at schools, roads, public health centres.."To provide a real sense of the extent of power asserted by State Governments on temples in the absence of trustees, Advocate, Mr. J. Sai Deepak pointed out that in a matter before the Bench led by the Chief Justice of Madras High Court, in the absence of temple trustees the Government had taken a decision to melt gold belonging to a temple. He submitted that the High Court held that this is a decision that cannot be taken by the Government, as per law. Justice Chandrachud was of the opinion, "This is an invincible task to appoint almost 20,000 trustees."Mr. Vaidyanathan emphasised that all temples might not require trustees. He submitted, "There are 46,000 temples, out of which about 42,000 temples have annual income of less than INR 10,000." Agreeing with the submission made by the Senior Advocate, Justice Chandrachud stated that the Government should take a policy decision that they would appoint trustees only in temples with income above a certain threshold, where there is a possibility of funds being misused. "These are really temples in small villages, so they have to take a policy decision and say that we are not going to appoint trustees for every temple, let the local community run those temples. Those that have an income above the threshold and there is a feeling that money should not be misused…"Mr. Vaidyanathan submitted that 4 types of temples (heritage temples, temples with large footfalls, temples with large income and temples with large endowment) may need Government's assistance for administration. The petition alleges that the State Government and the Commissioner, Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department is appointing Government employees in addition to the Executive ...

Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Alleging Deputation of Government Employees For Administration Of Hindu Temples In Tamil Nadu

Sohini Chowdhury

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