The Madras High Court on Monday expressed dismay over the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department having constructed strong rooms, to safeguard precious idols, in just 25 temples despite a Government Order issued on November 1, 2018 sanctioning ₹308 crore to construct the rooms in over 1,000 temples.
A special Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and P.D. Audikesavalu, constituted to hear temple related cases, said it had ordered construction of strong rooms in 2017 and the government came up with the G.O. sanctioning funds in 2018. Yet, hardly any progress had been shown by the department even after the expiry of nearly five years.
“You cannot even imagine the worth of the treasure that has to be protected in these temples. Even multi storey builidngs get constructed within six months but here you have not been able to construct strong rooms for the last five years. The project was given, a model structure was given and money was also given, what more do you want?” the senior judge asked.
Justice Audikesavalu followed suit stating: “You are not going to use public money for the construction of the strong rooms. It is the temple funds that are going to be used. In such a case, what is the problem in having completed the construction in all 3,000 temples which require such strong rooms to protect the idols and jewellery.”
Special Government Pleader (HR&CE) N.R.R. Arun Natarajan submitted the delay was because the HR&CE Department wanted to ensure uniformity in the strong rooms to be constructed in all temples. He assured the court the project would be expedited and the rooms constructed on a war footing in the next three months.
Accepting his submission, the judges directed him to submit by Thursday a detailed roadmap . While dealing with another case related to delay in appointment of trustees to temples across the State, the judges asked the HR&CE top officials to join the hearing on Thursday.
