CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday ordered the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department to respond to a petition alleging that the HR&CE department itself encroached the temple lands.

A division bench comprising Justices R Mahadevan and PD Audikesavalu heard the petition against the establishment of colleges using temple funds in the State and sought ban over the use of temple funds on Friday.

The MHC ordered the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment to respond to the additional petition filed by Ramesh. Earlier, the petitioner contended that the temple funds are misused by the authorities and requested that an audit should be ordered with non-departmental auditors. The petitioner alleged that the applications under the Right To Information (RTI) seeking details of expenditure incurred from public funds are being rejected. Similarly, the offices of Regional Joint Commissioner of HR&CE have been built on the lands of Thiruvanaikaval Jambukeswarar Akilandeswari temple, Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple and Tiruchendur Subramania Swamy temple, the petitioner claimed.

Later, the division bench adjourned the hearing for two weeks.

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