A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a scheme to appoint trained archakas in temples under the control of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department.
K. Sabarinathan, who filed the petition, said he underwent archaka training in 2007-08 conducted by the State government and was awarded the Junior Saiva Archagar certificate after passing the examination in June 2008.
“In total, 207 persons got training as archakas from centres and passed the qualifying examination. All of them are without employment.
Even after the Supreme Court verdict, the job opportunity is bleak as no follow-up action has been taken,” he said in the petition.
‘Govt. duty-bound’
The petitioner said the State government had not taken any steps to accommodate the trained archakas in temples under its control. He submitted that the report of Justice A.K. Rajan had categorically stated that there was no mention about caste either in the Vedas or the Agamas. The petitioner added that the report contained a list of persons who were doing puja without any qualification and claimed that it would amount to defiling the idol.
“If full survey is made, one will find that there will not be even one temple with qualified archakas.
“While this is the position, it is the duty of the government of Tamil Nadu to ensure that qualified archakas are appointed in temples and unqualified persons are removed.A comprehensive scheme has to be evolved,” he said.
Justice V. Parthiban issued notice to the HR&CE department returnable by two weeks.