Tamil Nadu: Temple Activist TR Ramesh Responds To CM Stalin's Claims Of Good Work By HRCE Department

Responding to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Chief Minister MK Stalin, in which he claimed that all departments, especially the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HRCE) department is doing well under , temple activist TR Ramesh wrote a reply detailing why he considers this to be far from the reality.

In his post Chief Minister Stalin wrote, "All sectors are growing exponentially under the #DravidianModel regime of "everything for all". Specifically @tnhrcedept-'s functions are excellent amongst all.

"The DMK government recovered temple properties worth Rs 5000 crore in two years.

"Today is the day Department of Hindu Religious Charities has conducted the 1000th Kudamulukku ceremony at Kasi Viswanathar Temple, West Mambalam.

"The DMK government is functioning as an unparalleled government that is admired by all believers.

"I appreciate the minister @PKSekarbabu and officers responsible for this

"Congratulations!"

In his response, Ramesh wrote that Chief Minister Stalin's claim was far from the reality and it seems that the HRCE minister and officials had not briefed him about the situation.

Further, he said that whatever he was saying in his response was backed by evidence.

He added that while in the last 40-50 years, there has been mismanagement and injustice in temples, in the last 10-15 years it has become extreme.

He then provided 10 points listing why he thinks that the department is not performing well-

"1. While in 1986, 5.25 lakh acres of agricultural land was available with temples, the department currently says that it has 4.78 lakh acres, which means 47,000 acres are missing and this has been recorded by the court itself.

"2. Very little revenue is generated by the endowment department from temple lands. It does not charge more than Rs 5000 crore in a year. The lease arrears are Rs 50,000 crore and this has been agreed in the court by the department itself.

"4. A very low amount is collected as annual rent in many places for temple lands. Department officials have been collecting less than Rs 10 per acre in annual rent in many places and this has been flagged by audit department officials for many years.

"5. The department is collecting only Rs 2 per acre from 2400 acres of Vedaranyam temple lands from the central government salt corporation. The Tamil Nadu government should not be allowing this and it should legally cancel such perpetual leases like what was done by the Andhra government.

"The Supreme Court had held that such cancellation was right and so Tamil Nadu could bring a law in order to collect market rents. Just because it is a central government undertaking, the Tamil Nadu government should not leave the amount uncollected.

"6. Temple money has been used by department officials for illegal purposes like construction of departmental offices on temple lands. The money should be returned with interest and cases filed against the officers who took the money.

"7. Vehicles like Innova have been purchased for department officials using temple money. 3 Innova cars were bought for ministers with temple funds during the AIADMK rule. Action should be taken against them.

"8. Of the temple's annual income, the department takes 12 per cent as administrative fee and 4 per cent as audit fee. This amounts to about Rs 400 crore per year. This is a very unfair charge because the administrative cost of the department is Rs 120 crore per year. How can a secular government be making a profit by keeping temples?

"9. An audit fee of 4 per cent is odd and not seen anywhere else in the world. This is an injustice. It was not an external audit but an internal audit. After I filed a case, saying that it was an internal audit, they moved the audit department from the HRCE to the Finance department.

"Since 1986, 18 lakh audit charges have been filed by the auditors and these have not been resolved till date. This indicates poor management.

"10. According to the department, out of 44000 temples, executive officers have been appointed in 628 temples. Out of these 628 temples, in more than 400 temples, the executive officers do not have an order of appointment by the commissioner under the relevant section of the statute.

"I have filed cases about this matter with regards to 120 temples and not even one such order has been produced by the department in the court. Is this not a huge legal scam?"

Concluding his response, he said that he could prove with evidence many more frauds done by department officials in connection with the management of temples and he is ready to do it if the the Chief Minister gave him a chance.

He also requested the Chief Minister to order an investigation by an impartial judge in order to know the truth.

Also Read: Temple Activist TR Ramesh Files Contempt Petition Against HRCE Officials, Says They Are Carrying Out Illegal Civil Works Using Temple Funds