‘HR & CE department officials looting Chola treasures kept in Thanjavur temple’

TNN | Nov 4, 2018, 06.01 AM IST
‘HR & CE department officials looting Chola treasures kept in Thanjavur temple’
CHENNAI: The Madras high court has directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department (HR&CE) to file a report on the rental arrears due from lease holders of temple lands across the state.
A special division bench of Justice R Mahadevan and Justice P D Audikesavalu passed the interim order on the plea moved by R Venkataraman.

The petitioner alleged that royal treasures of Chola kings stored in an underground tunnel including 400 antique idols in Sri Pasupatheeswarar temple at Pandanallur, Thanjavur is being looted by the HR & CE officials.

He further claimed that the department had failed to take any steps to collect rental arrears due to the temple to the tune of Rs 24crore.

Venkataraman wanted the court to constitute a commission headed by a retired judge of the high court to conduct inquiries into such complaints pending before the HR and CE department.


This apart, the petitioners alleged that heritage structures in the temple including tunnels and tank moats are destroyed, and parts of the temple illegally converted to paddy collection and storage centre for Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation.


“Heritage buildings attached to the temple and assigned for the usage of temple priest are illegally demolished and all the antique wooden doors and pillars were stolen. Tenancy register has been fabricated to show only 300 tenants instead of 8000,” he added.


The petitioner further claimed that he had lodged a series of grievance petitions highlighting the issues with the HR&CE department, all relating to various instances of mismanagement of Sri Pasupatheeswarar temple and 23 other temples which comes under it. As the authorities failed to act on the complaints, he had approached the high court seeking relief.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/hrce-dept-officials-looting-chola-treasures-kept-in-thanjavur-temple/articleshowprint/66493102.cms

Documents on missing peacock idol in Kapaleeswarar Temple destroyed: HR&CE Dept

The Madras High Court on Thursday slammed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and warned them of severe action if they failed to produce documents in connection to the case of a missing peacock idol at a Chennai temple.

    Priyanka Thirumurthy
    Thursday, November 01, 2018 - 15:07



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The Madras High Court on Thursday slammed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and warned them of severe action if they failed to produce documents in connection with the case of a missing peacock idol at a Chennai temple. The bench hearing the case came down strongly on the Department after it admitted that all documents in connection to the idol were destroyed.

In August 2018, a petitioner named Rangarajna Narasimhan had approached the court with a writ petition alleging that the peacock statue that originally existed in the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore represented Goddess Parvati doing puja for Lord Shiva. The peacock, he claims, had a flower in its mouth. It was however, allegedly, replaced in 2004 when TVS Motors Company Chairman Venu Srinivasan was part of a government committee responsible for conducting the Kumbhabhishekam in the temple.

The statue currently present in the temple, has a snake in its mouth, according to the complainant. The idol wing then began an investigation into the case where members of the HRCE Department were interrogated and asked to submit documents in connection with the statue to analyse if it has indeed been replaced.

"The Idol Wing asked for the records of this statue and the HRCE Department replied saying that documents in connection to the statue have been destroyed. The court has now given them one week to produce the records," says Ashok Natarajan, ADSP of the Idol Wing. "We gave a copy of their reply to the court. Investigations are still underway in the case. We will wait for their reply next week to see how we can take the matter further," he adds.

The Madras HC bench comprising Justices Mahadevan and Audikesavalu, however, were shocked by the HRCE Department's stand on the matter. They condemned their reply and have given them a week to produce relevant documents. The court further warned them of severe action if it’s proven that the documents were truly destroyed. The judges pointed out that this was a severe allegation which will lead to serious consequences. They further added that the counsel for the HRCE Department had claimed earlier that they had the necessary documents.

"This is clearly an effort to protect the bigwigs involved in this case including Venu Srinivasan," says the petitioner, Rangarajan. "By destroying documents they have erased crucial evidence regarding the replacement of the statue. This letter that the Idol Wing has produced is an indication of the HRCE's Department's role in this scam," he alleges.


https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/documents-missing-peacock-idol-kapaleeswarar-temple-destroyed-hrce-dept-90907

Treat all devotees equally in temples, HC directs HR&CE

  Legal Correspondent

CHENNAI, October 23, 2018 00:49 IST

Let there not be any difference between the poor and rich, say judges

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday issued a series of 22 directions to Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department for proper upkeep of over 36,000 temples under its control. The first of those directions was to ensure that all Pujas in the temples were performed only by “legally appointed” priests.

A Division Bench of Justices M.V. Muralidaran and T. Krishnavalli issued the directions after hearing a public interest litigation petition through video conferencing facility from Chennai. The judges appreciated all principal district judges in the State for having filed detailed reports with respect to the upkeep of temples within their jurisdictions.

After perusing those reports, the Bench directed the HR&CE Commissioner to ensure that all devotees were treated equally by the temple authorities without any differences between the poor and the rich because “all are equal before the Lord almighty.” The executive officers of individual temples must be instructed to ensure such equality, it added.

Free darshan queues should not be curtailed or restricted in order to promote paid darshan which could be utilised only for the purpose of augmenting the income of the temples, the judges said.

The other directions issued by the judges include installation of biometric devices to record attendance of temple staff including the priests, a prohibition on demand for more money by the priests from the devotees for performing special pujas, providing toilet facilities around all temples within three months and maintaining a hygienic atmosphere.

The court also ordered for installation of sign boards in Tamil and English inside the temples to help devotees reach the sanctum sanctorum of different deities, providing drinking water in all temples within three months and retrieving temple properties as well as shops from encroachments and illegal occupation within six months.

Taking note of the complaints of theft of ancient idols from temples, the judges wanted the HR and CE commissioner to file a detailed report by January 22 on the number of closed circuit television cameras that would be required to keep a vigil over the temple properties. A centralised control room could also be established in Chennai, they said.

Authoring the order, Mr. Justice Muralidaran insisted upon the need to ban plastic carrybags and water packets inside temples and planting of large number of saplings around every temple premises. It was ordered that temple structures should be renovated periodically and price charts should be displayed prominently near Prasadam stalls.