CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) department to file a report with regard to the rental arrears due to all temples in the State.
A bench of Justices S Mahadevan and P D Audikesavalu gave the directive when a PIL petition from R Venkataraman of Jai Balaji Nagar here came up last week.
The petition prayed for a directive to the government to constitute a commission headed by a retired judge of the High Court to conduct enquiries to resolve the grievances of petitioners, pending before the department and dispose them off as per a GO dated September 21, 2015. The GO, among other things, stipulated that the grievances of the complainants should be redressed, either this way or that, within a maximum of one month with a speaking order and the complainant should be informed of the reasons for seeking additional time for enquiry, if any, by the department.
According to petitioner, he had lodged a series of grievance petitions with the department, all relating to various instances of mismanagement of Sri Pasupatheeswarar temple at Pandanallur and its other temples numbering over 23, all under HR&CE. He alleged theft of many idols, misuse of authority and funds, illegal encroachment and alienation of immovable property and loss of revenue due to fraudulent activities. However, the department had not taken any action on his complaints. Hence, the present petition, he said.