Rethink small temple renovation plan: HC

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday asked the State government to revisit its plan to utilise surplus funds of financially well-off temples to renovate small village temples. The court orally observed that such schemes cannot be implemented like government ‘s freebies.

Justices MM Sundresh and R Hemalatha queried the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department on sanctioning Rs 1 lakh for each temple without looking at their needs. “Some temples might require Rs 4 lakh for renovation and some might need Rs 50,000. What purpose would be solved by allotting a fixed amount to all temples?” the bench queried.

Noting that allotting Rs 1 lakh each to all small temples would not serve the purpose as such inadequate funds will only go to drains, the HC suggested the government to first identify those temples that require urgent renovation, and disburse funds accordingly.

The court, recording submissions made by both the parties, directed the HR&CE counsel Karthikeyan to get instructions by Thursday as to whether the department was willing to consider the suggestions made by the court.

The court was making these observations on a plea moved by Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam challenging a GO dated May 15, sanctioning such utilisation of surplus funds of large temples.The petitioner contended that the department had `488 crore in common good funds, and there was no necessity for passing such an order directing transfer of funds of big temples.