TR Ramesh, president of the Temple Devotees Association, has called for wide-ranging changes in Tamil Nadu’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, soon after Ramesh—who won from Srirangam—was sworn in as the new minister for the portfolio.
In a detailed set of demands, he urged the department to function with greater transparency and comply with the Right to Information framework by proactively disclosing key information. He also sought strict action against officials who, he alleged, unlawfully deny information to RTI applicants.
Ramesh said the department has not implemented directions issued by the Madras High Court in recent years, including guidelines from a June 7, 2021 verdict. He pointed to court orders to upload audit reports of 50 major temples on the department’s website, alleging non-compliance.
He further called for modernising temple accounting by introducing double-entry bookkeeping, maintaining accounts on a financial-year basis and conducting audits through chartered accountants. He also flagged a large backlog of unresolved audit objections dating back to 1986 and demanded district-level CA panels to settle them as per the law.
Among other demands, he sought mandatory maintenance of statutory registers under Sections 29, 30 and 31, a forensic audit of Section 29 registers of 50 major temples, repayment (with interest) of temple funds allegedly diverted for departmental expenses, and a white paper on temple land holdings and encroachments. He also stressed that officials should not interfere in internal temple matters and rituals, citing Section 105, and criticised recent “illegal” amendments introduced by the previous DMK government related to construction using temple funds, lease rules, land exchange and investment norms.
