MADURAI: After Chief Minister MK Stalin hailed the effective handling of the HR&CE department by Minister PK Sekar Babu, advocate S Vanchinathan, the counsel of the Archagar Manavar Sangam, who handled cases relating to the appointment of non-Brahmin priests in temples, claimed that the HR&CE department has been progressing in a reverse direction under the minister’s leadership.
Addressing reporters here on Wednesday, Vanchinathan referred to Stalin’s statements at a wedding ceremony where the latter said that the department, under Sekar Babu’s leadership, has been obtaining favourable verdicts in cases related to the appointment of priests from all castes. “The chief minister was provided with misleading information by HR&CE, which was not fact-checked by his team.”
During former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s tenure, the government enacted a law to appoint non-brahmins as priests in temples. In 2021, the new DMK government assured that 24 non-brahmins, who completed their archagar training provided by the state government, would be appointed to the temple within 100 days.
However, there is no development in this regard. Meanwhile, a petition was moved before the Madras HC challenging the law. A five-member committee was formed based on the court’s direction to identify the temples, which were constructed as per Agamas. However, the committee has not done anything so far and HR&CE has not challenged the court’s direction, he said.