Just one idol strong room, HR&CE warned of contempt

CHENNAI: A division bench of Madras High Court on Friday warned the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department secretary that if the department fails to comply with the court orders, the HC would summon him in contempt of court proceedings.

The bench of Justice R Mahadevan and Justice PD Audikesavalu passed the direction on hearing suo-motu case proceedings to protect the temple idols and antiques.

When the matter was taken for hearing, the court expressed its dissatisfaction against the government for building only one strong room for protecting the idols despite Rs 308 crore was allocated for that purpose in 2018. “The idols and antiques are worth several crores. Why has the government constructed merely one strong room while there are thousands of temples in the state,” the judges asked.

The court further directed the government to file a detailed report in connection with the construction of the strong rooms to protect the temple idols and antiques. It may be recalled that the court passed an order with 75 directions in connection with the idol protection. The matter has been adjourned for two weeks.