Team News Riveting
Chennai, October 28
The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu government to refrain from taking any decision on melting temple jewellery into gold bars.
The Tamil Nadu government has recently announced Gold Monetisation Scheme. Chief Minister M K Stalin had announced to melt into 24 carat gold bars, the unutilised jewellery in the possession of the temples in the State. Initially, the gold ornaments lying unutilised at the three renowned temples of Sri Karumariamman temple in Tiruverkadu, Sri Mariamman temple in Samayapuram and Sri Mariamman temple at Irukkankudi, were identified for the scheme.
The funds raised by depositing the gold bars in nationalised banks would be used for the development of the temples under the ambit of the State Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department, the government said.
The Court asked the state government to refrain from the scheme until Trustees are appointed to Hindu temples in the State. A Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu clarified that the task of completing the inventory of temple offerings can continue under the aegis of the Committee constituted by the State government which comprises of retired Judges.
“But no decision to melt the jewellery or dispose of any valuable which forms part of offerings at relevant temples should be taken without the trustees thereat being installed pursuant to advertisements issued,” the Court ordered.
The interim order was passed in public interest litigation (PIL) petitions filed by the Indic Collective Trust through its President, TR Ramesh. Advocates Niranjan Rajagopalan and J Sai Deepak appeared for the Trust. A related petition by one, AV Gopala Krishnan was also heard along with this matter, with Senior Advocate Pradeep Sancheti making arguments for the petitioner.
The petitioners contended that the administration of temples is entrusted to its trustees and that the State government cannot take a decision to melt temple jewellery in the absence of trustees.
The Advocate General informed that the practice of melting temple gold was not new and that Rs 11.5 crore had been earned as interest, which was used for the benefit of temples.
The matter was listed next on December 15.
