The annual audit of temples will henceforth be under the purview of the Finance Department. All these years, it had been under the control of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department. The move, according to a recent Government Order, was based on a request from the HR and CE Commissioner, who sought the change to make auditing more transparent and independent.
So far, the norm had been to submit auditing of income and expenses of temples to the auditing wing of the HR and CE and temples would pay auditing charges. T.R. Ramesh of the Temple Worshippers Society said that in a case filed in the Madras High Court he had sought an independent auditing system for temples. “Shifting the audit wing to the Finance Department will not help in any manner and cannot be called independent. The audit wing does not even have chartered accountants. The audit does not cover jewellery owned by temples. Land alienation is not questioned,” he said.
“There are many violations in temple fund transfers. But HR and CE auditors seem to tide over them if the Commissioner approves them,” he said.
