The Madras High Court has imposed costs of ₹2 lakh on top officials of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department after finding them guilty of contempt, and ordered that the money should be deposited with the Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai.
Justice Anita Sumanth imposed costs of ₹1 lakh on the HR&CE Commissioner J. Kumara Gurubaran and ₹50,000 each upon the Joint Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner concerned, while allowing the contempt petition moved by B. Sukumar, an erstwhile temple trustee. The judge pointed out that the petitioner had initially filed a writ petition in 2020, seeking a direction to the Executive Officer of the Sokkavel Subramaniya Temple at Choolai in Chennai to issue notices and collect rental arrears from the individuals occupying the temple lands for long.
The writ petition was disposed of by the judge on June 21, 2021 with a direction to the officials to issue notices to the lessees, as well as their legal heirs under Section 78 of the HR&CE Act, conduct and inquiry and then pass a reasoned order giving a clear-cut finding on the temple properties.
Claiming that the direction was not complied with, the petitioner had moved the present contempt petition.
Replying to the petition, Assistant Commissioner M. Baskaran told the court that he was overburdened with work since he was holding additional charge of another post. The Assistant Commissioner also said that the files related to the issue got misplaced and, therefore, there was a delay in issuing notices. He told the court that he had now issued summons for the hearing scheduled on Thursday. However, the judge was unhappy with the officer’s reply.
“The officer does not even express any regret and is brazen about the non-compliance of the court orders. Hence, as contempt of the directions issued on June 21, 2021 is apparent because of the casual and unacceptable attitude of the respondents, I think it is fit to impose costs,” she wrote.
