HR&CE told to reply to plea seeking EO appointment details

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department to file a response to a petition seeking the uploading of appointment orders of executive officers assigned to temples under its control.

TR Ramesh of Chennai filed a petition stating that, according to the government's policy note, 668 executive officers manage 45,809 temples under the HR&CE department.

However, in a case filed before the Supreme Court, the HR&CE Commissioner had stated in the department's response that there were 3,250 executive officers. Therefore, the petitioner requested that the court direct the department to upload the appointment orders of all executive officers appointed to temples across the state on its websites.

When the case came up for hearing before Justice PB Balaji, the HR&CE department pointed out that the petitioner had already filed a Public Interest Litigation in 2022 seeking the same relief, and that case is still pending.

Following this, the judge directed the department to file its response within two weeks and adjourned the hearing.