On Thursday (9th January), a 2-judge Bench of the Madras High Court ruled [pdf] that the surplus funds of revenue-rich temples could not be used for constructing shopping complexes.
A Hindu man from Tamil Nadu, identified as P Bhaskar, stumbled upon a tender notification on 11th December 2023 in the New Indian Express paper.
He learnt that the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department was planning to construct a commercial shopping complex on the land owned by Arulmighu Nandeeswarar Shivan temple using its ‘surplus funds.’
The Background of the Case
As a person with interest, P Bhaskar filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Madras High Court challenging the decision of the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Department.
The jurisdiction and administrative control of the Arulmighu Nandeeswarar Shivan Temple lies with the Tamil Nadu government.
The HR&CE Department had claimed that the funds from the shopping complex would be used for further development of the Hindu temple.
Petitioner P Bhaskar pointed out that the Shivan Temple had no trustees and was being run as a ‘kingdom of the Joint
Commissioner’.
He further contended that the ‘surplus funds’ of a temple could only be utilised in the manner, specified by the the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Act of 1959.
Provisions under the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Act
Interestingly, Sections 36, 36-A, and 36-B of the legislation [pdf] make it clear that the ‘surplus funds’ of a Hindu temple could be used for conducting Hindu marriages or feeding the poor.
Section 66 of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Act of 1959 further lays down guidelines for the appropriation of endowments (gifts) received by a temple. These include
- Grant of aid to a poor religious institution
- Grant of aid for purposes connected to the Hindu Faith
- Propagation of religious tenets of the institution
- Recitation of Divya Prabhandam and Thevaram
- Establishment and maintenance of schools to train Hindu priests
- Establishment and maintenance of university to study the Hindu religion
- establishment and maintenance of educational institutions where instruction in the Hindu religion is also provided
None of the existing guidelines allow for the construction of commercial shopping complexes.
The Tamil Nadu HR&CE Department had attempted to rationalise the decision to build a commercial shopping complex on temple land by claiming that it would yield ‘rental income.’
It further assured that the shops at the complex would only be allotted to the practitioners of the Hindu Faith and only pooja items, utensils and exclusively vegetarian food could be sold by eateries.
The judgment of the Madras High Court
The matter was heard by a 2-Judge Bench of Chief Justice Kalpathi Rajendran Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy.
The Madras High Court noted that the Arulmighu Nandeeswarar Shivan Temple has no trustees and that it was not made out whether the surplus funds were spent preferably on items mentioned in Section 66 (a-g) of the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Act.
It added that the provision in the legislation is meant to propagate the religious tenets of the institution.
“Constructing the shopping complex using the funds of the temple certainly does not indicate any propagation of the religious tenets of the institution, i.e., the temple,” the court ruled.
The Judges noted that the Tamil Nadu HR&CE had not conducted a ‘project study’ before going ahead with the construction of the shopping complex. They stated –
“By way of illustration, let us assume Rs.1.00 Crore is spent in constructing the shopping complex. What would be the annual return on the investment has not been studied. If the amount is put in a fixed deposit in a bank, at the current rate of return, it would fetch about 7.25%. Perhaps the temple may not be assessed to tax and that would be a net return. There is nothing to indicate that the returns will be in excess of 7.25%. Even if we take that the decision was taken when the rate of interest was only 6%, still there has to be a project study report which says that the temple funds could be better utilized for earning more returns than 6% fixed deposit return.”
The Madras High Court stated that temples should be kept out of litigation, adding that the construction of a shopping complex could lead to issues of return on investment, eviction of tenants, recovery of unpaid dues and prevention of encroachments.
The Judges ruled, “Therefore, we make it clear that surplus funds of temple, which is a religious institution defined under the HR & CE Act, can be used only for the purposes specified in sub-section (1) of Section 66 or provided under Section 36-A or Section 36-B and for no other purpose. Since the shopping complex does not fall within the category of items (a) to (l) of sub-section (1) of Section 66 or Sections 36-A and 36-B, the decision to construct a shopping complex has to be quashed and set aside.“
While junking the construction of the shopping complex, the Madras High Court suggested the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Department use the existing structure for purposes as laid down by the HR&CE Act.
Planting native trees, conducting marriages for poor Hindus and using the existing building as a shed to feed the poor were three recommendations given by the Madras High Court.
And thus in this way, the 2 Judges of the esteemed court struck down the plan of the Tamil Nadu government to use surplus funds of the Arulmighu Nandeeswarar Shivan temple to build a commercial shopping complex.
All you need to know about Tamil Nadu HR& CE Department
Unlike most parts of India where a particular temple administration lays down its own rules of conduct, the Hindu places of worship in Tamil Nadu are managed by the State government.
The administrative control is established through the implementation of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Act of 1959, legislation that was supposed to ensure ‘smooth administration’ and ‘proper management’ of Hindu temples and mutts.
The Tamil Nadu government controls 36635 temples, 45 mutts, 68 temples attached to mutts, 189 charitable endowments, 1721 specific endowments and 17 Jain temples.
Through the ‘Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act’, the State government exercises unprecedented control over the administration, functioning and management of Hindu temples and mutts.
Over 36000 temples and mutts are now under the direct control of the Tamil Nadu govt.
— Dibakar Dutta (দিবাকর দত্ত) (@dibakardutta_) April 30, 2024
And the Minister of this 'HR&CE' Department was present at the 'Eradicate Sanatan Dharma' conference. pic.twitter.com/8DcoWT5R0K
The government appoints the Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner, and the Assistant Commissioner of the HR&CE Department. It is also in charge of the assets of the temples and mutts (both movable and immovable), and controls the finances in the name of ‘improving viability’ and ‘sustained development.’
Moreover, the government solicits money from the same temples and mutts to the range of 1.5%-4% under the garb of annual income audit. Every community (sampradaya) within the Hindu fold has its unique customs and ritualistic way of worship. The community decides the pujaris and the management of the temple.
The Tamil Nadu government overrides this Hindu practice in the name of social equality and appoints archakas of its liking under the HR&CE Act.
To make matters worse, a total of 11 Mutts have lost their character under the supervision of the same Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department. As such, total Mutts in Tamil Nadu have decreased from 56 to 45 as of 2022.
This article was first published in OpIndia on 11th January 2025.