The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found irregularities in the management of wealth of Hindu religious institutions in Odisha.
The auditors have examined the implementation of the Orissa Hindu Religious Endowment (OHRE) Act, 1951 in 13 institutions.
The apex audit agency has found that 4,503.87 acres of land belonging to 13 temples were in illegal occupation while about nine kg of gold has been found to be in ‘unauthorised’ custody.
The CAG has come across total landed property of 12,767.679 acres of 13 temples in Odisha. Only 5,749.464 acres (45.03%) were under their possession while 35.28% of the land was under encroachment.
“The religious institutions were not aware of the status of more than half of their properties which were not under their possession. There were lacunae in internal control measures like maintenance of property registers and their submission to the Endowment Commissioner,” the CAG has pointed out.
The administration has failed to recover some high valued land patches belonging to the Lingaraj Temple.
“The Executive Officer of the Lingaraj Temple has intimated the auditors that 36.370 acres out of 69.423 acres of land in Bhubaneswar were under encroachment. As many as 272 cases have been filed against the encroachers between 1990 and 2010. The Endowment Commission [EC] had disposed of 222 cases as on October 2019. Of this, the EC forwarded 196 cases to the District Collector, Khordha for eviction of encroachments,” said the CAG in its latest report.
“In respect of nine religious institutions, there were provisions in the scheme or authorisation of the EC. Out of 24,463.75 grams of gold found in these temples, 9,313.86 grams [38%] was in the custody of sevaks and office-bearers other than the Executive Officer,” says the audit.
