Temple fund

Temple funds for temples only: Madras high court

MADURAI: Holding that the govt is bound to utilise temple funds only for maintenance and development of the temple and for connected religious purposes, Madras high court has quashed govt orders for construction of marriage halls utilising temple funds.
Taking note of the Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HR and CE) minister’s announcement in the assembly that marriage halls would be constructed in 27 temples at a cost of Rs 80 crore, a division bench of Justice S M Subramaniam and Justice G Arul Murugan observed: “Temple funds cannot be treated as public funds or govt funds. The money offered and properties donated to the temple belongs to the ‘deity’. Deity becomes the owner of the funds, properties etc.

Deity in a temple is a minor. Thus, the high court, as parens patriae, is duty bound to protect the interests of the deity and funds of the temple and properties belonging to the deity in a temple.”
“The GO was issued for creation of marriage halls out of the surplus temple funds. Authorities clarified that the renting of such marriage halls is not free of charge but is rented out on payment of a fee. So, the essence of charity is nowhere present in the heart of this GO.

The court views that the GO loses its footing on this very point itself. Hence, in the absence of any element of charity (charity being an important facet of Hindu religion) involved in this scheme, it cannot be termed as a religious purpose under the tenets of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act,” the court said. The govt has no powers to utilise the funds for any other purpose other than the purpose for which the valuables are donated by the devotees/donors to the temple, held the judges, disapproving of diversion of the funds for any other purposes.”