Tamil Nadu
Madras HC: Temple executive officers cannot interfere in religious affairs
The Madras High Court has ruled that executive officers appointed under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Act cannot interfere with a temple's religious activities and may only administer its properties. The court also flagged concerns about combining the roles of executive officer and 'Fit Person'.
The Madras High Court has held that executive officers (EOs) appointed under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Act cannot interfere with the religious activities of a temple and can only administer the properties belonging to it. A bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan released an order to this effect recently.
The court also examined the question of an EO doubling up as the 'Fit Person'. It said that if both functions are combined in a single person, the system of checks and balances would vanish, going against the statutory scheme, particularly Rule 4(a) of the HR&CE Rules. The EO can function as the 'Fit Person' only for a certain period of time, and the administration of the temple has to vest only with the Board of Trustees, the bench added.
Additional Advocate General PV Balasubramaniam, representing the state, submitted that the EO was appointed to administer the temple as per a judicial order of 1982.
- executive officers
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