CHENNAI, April (Hindusthan Samachar):

The full import of the Supreme Court judgment in the Chidambaram Natarajan Temple case dawned on the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday, when the Madras high court followed the verdict and ruled that it cannot appoint executive officers to any temple under its control without first arming itself with a specific rule.

Justice S Nagamuthu said maladministration of temples in Tamil Nadu could not be curtailed unless the government frames rules under Section 116 of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act empowering its commissioners to regulate temple administration by appointing executive officers.

“Unless rules are issued by the government and the conditions in the rules are satisfied, the commissioner of HR&CE department shall have no power to appoint any executive officer, irrespective of whether it is religious denominational temple or not,” held Justice S Nagamuthu on Friday.

“But so far no such rules have been issued by the government.”

The present case relates to the show-cause notice issued by the HR&CE commissioner to the famous Vaithianathaswamy Devasthanam at Vaitheeswarankoil in Nagapattinam district on February 12, asking as to why an executive officer should not be appointed to manage the affairs of the temple, in view of certain allegations. Specifying six irregularities, the notice said the officer could manage the temple for a period of one year.

The temple challenged the notice pointing out that in the absence of a specific rule prescribing conditions upon which an executive officer could be appointed. It argued that the apex court handed over the administration of the Chidambaram Natarajar Temple back to the Podhu Dikshitars on the ground that there was no rule and executive officers could not be appointed for an endless period.

Unless rules are issued by the government, the commissioner of HR&CE department shall have no power to appoint any executive officer.

The case relates to the show-cause notice issued by the HR&CE commissioner to Vaithianathaswamy Devasthanam in Nagapattinam district on February 12, asking why an executive officer should not be appointed to manage the affairs of the temple.