MADURAI: Observing that hundi collection is not the fiefdom of priests, and witnessing priests fighting for a share in hundi collection — as if it’s their family property’s accrued income — shocks the judicial conscience of the court, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently suggested the state government to take control over the administration of Sri Pandi Muneeswarar Temple in Madurai.
A bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan made the observations while dismissing a batch of appeals by some priests of the temple (widely known as ‘Pandikoil’), against an order passed by a single judge in December 2024, upholding the HR&CE department’s decision to reject the priests’ right over the hereditary trusteeship and hereditary “poosariship” of the temple.
The judges said the case typifies the fable of monkeys fighting over bread: the priests of the shrine of Pandi Muni are squabbling over the division of devotees’ plate offerings and hundi collections, not to serve God but solely for their own personal gain. “Religion is not a cloak for enrichment, nor can piety be promoted for pecuniary gain,” they observed.
They also noted that the authorities have found persistent mismanagement in the administration of the temple, with substantial amounts collected through plate collections and hundi offerings — plate collection stated to exceed Rs 1 crore annually, and hundi collection at least Rs 4 crore a year — being siphoned off by the priests instead of being deposited to the credit of the temple.
Hundi collection is not the fiefdom of a poosari and is a resource held in trust for the community of worshippers, and thus, it is impressed with a public character, the judges observed. Payment of some amount from the hundi collection to priests to meet their livelihood would not confer any right on them to get any lion’s share in the line of succession, they observed and directed the authorities to conclude the proceedings relating to the removal of the trustees within a month.
Further noting that the matter has been listed before different judges at various stages, leading to suppression of relevant particulars and dilution of earlier court orders, the judges also requested the Chief Justice of the Madras HC to consider posting all matters about the above temple before them.