HC warns HR&CE Department of action

‘Recover temple assets sold illegally’

The Madras High Court on Thursday impressed upon the State government the need to ensure that the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department gets into action to save temple properties. Concerned over numerous cases filed in the court about the misappropriation of temple properties, the court warned that it might have to come down hard if the Department did not act on its own. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy made the observations while hearing a contempt of court petition filed against top government officials for having allegedly failed to recover the lands of the Agatheshwarar Temple at Nungambakkam. Petitioner J. Mohanraj said HR&CE officials had failed to recover the lands sold illegally by the erstwhile trustees, despite a court order passed on February 19, 2019. P.T. Perumal, counsel for the petitioner, brought it to the notice of the court that a souvenir brought out by the temple in 1988 had mentioned that it was in possession of 340 grounds of land. Subsequently, information obtained under the Right to Information Act, 2005, disclosed that the temple was in possession of 307 grounds. Now, in a status report filed before the court, the HR&CE Department stated that the temple was only in possession of 93 grounds.