MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Thursday ordered an interim injunction against the construction of restaurants, shopping complexes and VIP cottages in Kallazhagar temple in Madurai.
A bench of justices S M Subramaniam and G Arul Murugan passed the interim order on a PIL filed by Venkatesh Sowrirajan of Nagapattinam, challenging a G.O. passed by the state on March 8, enabling construction of the above permanent structures within or in the immediate vicinity of the temple premises by using surplus temple funds.
The litigant submitted that the Kallazhagar temple is one of the 108 ‘Divya Desangal’ (holy abodes) of Lord Vishnu. The HR&CE minister had tabled a policy note before the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for 2023-2024, which included a proposal concerning Kallazhagar temple. Pursuant to this, the Board of Trustees of the temple passed a resolution on November 16, 2023, which revealed that surplus temple funds are going to be utilised for establishing a restaurant and VIP cottages to host dignitaries or influential visitors, within the temple premises.
Even though surplus temple funds can only be applied for purposes expressly mentioned in sections 66(1), 36-A,36-B of The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959, the authorities are building commercial structures that serve no religious or charitable purpose, on a war footing, the litigant alleged, adding that this constitutes a misapplication of temple resources, which are legally and ethically earmarked for religious use. He further claimed that the construction works are being undertaken without any environmental impact assessment, structural feasibility report, or heritage conservation clearance.
Hearing the plea, the bench noted that there is no clear indication about the usage of the buildings for religious purposes. It ordered an interim injunction with respect to clauses 4, 9, 10 and 11 of the resolution passed by the Board of Trustees, until further orders.