CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the HR & CR department Commissioner and the State government to form a committee for recovering precious idols, jewellery, and other records stolen from ancient temples.
Observing that temple idols are national treasure, the court passed the directions on a plea pertaining to such stolen articles from ancient temples. According to the petitioner, the State has witnessed embezzlement of records in temples that are under control of the HR&CE department.
He added that supporting evidence was also submitted about temples in a damaged condition. In most cases, HR&CE officials had visited the temple for the first time in over 60 years. The petitioner sought a joint enquiry to probe the missing items.
Recording the submissions, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy observed that such idols have a lot of history attached to them. The court then asked the State and the HR&CE department to constitute a committee within two weeks to recover the stolen items. The plea was adjourned by two weeks.