Building a college on a temple site is an act of kindness, said the Madras High Court

Building a college by taking temple land on long-term lease can be considered an act of kindness, the Madras High Court said while dealing with a case filed against the lease of 2.5 acres of land belonging to the Somanathaswamy Temple at Kolathur in Chennai.

Justice M. Dhandapani wrote: “A perusal of the notification dated September 3, 2024, which is impugned (under challenge) here, reveals that the temple premises are intended for long-term lease for the continuation of the college, and therefore, the purpose is a benefactor.”

The judge, meanwhile, refused to interfere with the notice issued by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Commissioner and directed the writ petitioner TR Ramesh of Temple Worshipers Society to submit his written objections/suggestions to the Commission.

The order was issued after Special Counsel for Government (HR&CE) NRR Arun Natarajan brought to the notice of the court that the notice itself had called for objections/suggestions to the Commissioner’s proposal but the complainant chose to approach the Supreme Court immediately.

In his affidavit, Mr. Ramesh said, a Government Order (GO) was issued in 2021 to establish several arts and science colleges in temple areas. He immediately filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court challenging the GO issued by the Department of Higher Education on October 6, 2021.

On November 15, 2021, a Bench headed by then Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee (since retired) and Justice PD Audikesavalu allowed the functioning of four such colleges at Kolathur in Chennai district, Tiruchengode in Namakkal, Ottanchatram in Dindigul and Vilathikudi in Thoothukulam. certain circumstances.

The bench ordered that the colleges should also offer courses in Hindu religious orders. “It should be appreciated that, however, the sanctity of the intention would be to use the funds considered above [of temples] for the purpose of education, these funds come from the donation of a specific cause and, in general, the cause should not be forgotten and the same should be combined with part of the funds, although the main field of education may be resolved. ,” said the judges.

Although the interim order continued to be in force till date and the 2021 petition was still awaiting the final decision, the HR&CE Commissioner came up with a notice to allot 2.5 acres of land to the Somanathaswamy temple for 25 years. rent from the Mylapore Kapaleeswarar Temple which was to be used for the construction of a college in the college at Kolathur, the petitioner complained.