The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department Commissioner on Wednesday informed the Madras High Court of having issued a circular instructing 48 Senior Grade temples in Tamil Nadu to live stream their Hundial (donation box) opening process, on their respective YouTube channels.
In a counter affidavit filed before Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, the HR&CE Commissioner K.V. Muralidharan said the Hundial of all other temples were being opened strictly in accordance with the Installation, Safeguarding and Accounting of Hundial Rules, 1975.
The counter was filed in response to four public interest litigation (PIL) petitions filed by temple activist Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam, complaining about frequent reports of the theft of cash and valuables such as gold and silver ornaments, donated by devotees, from temple Hundials.
The litigant insisted on appointing district-level committees comprising of retired judges; former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and other individuals of impeccable integrity to monitor the opening of Hundials in temples that did not have trustees.
Mr. Narasimhan also sought a direction to the HR&CE Commissioner to not open Hundials in the absence of trustees; to ensure registration of criminal cases regarding complaints of theft from temple Hundials and to ensure participation of local residents during the Hundial opening process under CCTV coverage.
Special Government Pleader (HR&CE) N.R.R. Arun Natarajan submitted a common counter affidavit to all four cases, which stated that a Fit Person, appointed under the provisions of the HR&CE Act, performs the functions of trustees in temples where the trustees were absent due to various reasons.
It recalled that the High Court had, in a judgement delivered on January 11, 2022, upheld the functioning of Fit Persons in the place of temple trustees. “It is clear that Fit Person is also a trustee,” the High Court had said and therefore, Hundials could be opened in the presence of Fit Person too, the counter added.
Making it clear that details of cash and other articles found inside the Hundials were recorded in the Hundial Assortment Register maintained by every temple and signed by at least two members of the general public, the Commissioner said local residents were always welcome to participate in the process.
The Commissioner also apprised the High Court of the elaborate procedures put in place to ensure multiple sets of the Hundial keys were kept in safe custody by different individuals such as the chairman of the board of trustees and the executive officers of the temples.
After taking the counter affidavit on file, the Division Bench asked the SGP to serve a copy on the PIL petitioner and granted the latter time till January 11, 2024 for filing a rejoinder if he chooses to do so.
