Madras HC upholds HR and CE chief's power to appoint personnel on deputation to temples

The Madras High Court on Monday upheld the powers of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Commissioner to draw personnel from other departments to man the temples under its control, on deputation.

The first bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, which upheld the power while dismissing a PIL petition challenging the same, however, expressed its displeasure over the non-filling of the posts for a long time.

State Advocate-General R Shanmugasundaram assured the bench that the process of filling up the vacancies has commenced. Steps are underway to constitute State and district-level panels for handpicking the trustees and the same would be completed in eight weeks.

The bench was dismissing a writ petition from T R Ramesh of Madurai, who contended that the state government was deliberately avoiding appointment of trustees to about 19,000 non-hereditary temples under the control of the HR&CE for the last 10 years. Instead, it was drawing personnel from other departments to man the temples as trustees, executive officers and fit persons, in violation of the law, he added.

Holding that the HR&CE Chief was empowered to draw people from other departments on deputation to manage the affairs of temples, the bench rejected the prayer. The provisions of the Tamil Nadu Government Service Rules enabled the Commissioner to do so to administer the temples. Otherwise, the administration of the temples concerned would be in peril and the same would lead to a chaotic situation, it added.