High Court raps HR&CE department for failing to protect temple land
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The Madras High Court criticised the Puucho Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department for having failed to protect temple properties which had been both encroached by non-public people or utilized by authorities for different official functions.
Justice R. Mahadevan stated: “Such callous attitude on their part cannot be countenanced.” He made the commentary on Wednesday final after ruling in opposition to the federal government’s transfer to assemble a Regional Transport Office on land within the possession of the Kottai Mariamman temple in Omalur Taluk of Salem district for greater than 80 years.
Passing widespread orders on a batch of instances, the decide additionally dominated in opposition to the transfer by the Fisheries Department to assemble a contemporary fish market and fish eatery on land within the possession of the Sakthi Muthamman temple at Neelankarai close to Chennai for greater than 70 years.
“This court has time and again observed that temples in Tamil Nadu are not only a source of identification of the ancient culture but also a testimony of pride and knowledge of the talent in the field of arts, science and sculpture, and a conduit for spiritual activities,” the decide stated.
“The properties of the religious institutions, more particularly the temples, have to be maintained properly in order to derive more income to spend for their betterment,” he stated.
He agreed with the petitioner’s counsel V.B.R. Menon, T. Kokilavane and B. Harikrishnan that the federal government had taken away the temple land with out the HR&CE Department’s consent.
Justice Mahadevan recalled that the Supreme Court in A.A. Gopalakrishnan Vs Cochin Devaswom Board (2007) had impressed upon the necessity for the federal government, members or trustees of boards/trusts and devotees to be vigilant and forestall usurpation or encroachment of properties belonging to spiritual establishments.
The apex courtroom had additionally noticed that courts had been obligation certain to protect and safeguard the properties of spiritual and charitable establishments from wrongful claims or misappropriation. However, within the current case, the HR&CE department had failed to protect the lands of the 2 temples in query, the decide lamented.
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