High Court restrains state from establishing colleges out of temple funds

High Court restrains state from establishing colleges out of temple funds

The proposal to utilize reserve funds must come from the temple trustees

In a setback to the Government of Tamil Nadu, the High Court of Madras has restrained it in its endeavour to open new colleges out of the reserve funds of temples vested with the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR & CE).

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu made it clear that such funds cannot be used for opening colleges till the trustees are installed for all the temples under the HR & CE Act.

As per the Act, the proposals to utilize such reserve funds for any purpose must come from the trustees of the temple concerned. Without such a proposal, the state cannot take the decision.

The court, however, permitted the state to establish four colleges in Chennai, Namakkal, Dindigul, and Tuticorin, as the colleges are ready to open and the process of admission of students is on.

The judges added that it would be a condition precedent to the four colleges that a stream of religious instructions in Hindu religion be introduced. If such a course is not introduced within a month of the start of the college, its further functioning would be discontinued.

The court stated, "It must be appreciated that however pious the intention may be to use the perceived surplus funds for the purpose of education, these funds are out of offerings for a particular cause and, ordinarily, the cause must not be forgotten and the same must be espoused with a part of the funds, even though the larger sphere of education may also be addressed."

The interim order was passed on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an individual T R Ramesh. According to the petitioner, merely because a minister made a policy statement on the floor of the assembly in the present government, the government had gone ahead with the proposal to divert funds from temples.