The Tamil Nadu government has assured the Madras High Court that funds belonging to temples and religious institutions invested in the Tamil Nadu Power Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Powerfin) will remain safe.
The submission came in a petition filed by T.R. Ramesh, president of Indik Collective Trust, Mylapore, Chennai. He challenged amendments to the investment norms under the HR&CE law, following a government order issued in February that permits surplus funds of temples and religious institutions to be invested in state-run entities.
The petitioner argued that the HR&CE law was enacted to safeguard temple properties and religious funds, and that the government order runs contrary to that objective. He sought to quash the order and requested a ban on investing temple funds in non-banking financial institutions.
Hearing the matter, a bench comprising Justices G.R. Swaminathan and V. Lakshminarayanan recorded the undertaking filed by Advocate General Vijay Narayan and Additional Advocate General P.V. Balasubramaniam. The government stated that interest has been paid properly so far on investments made in Powerfin and there is no need for apprehension about their safety.
The court directed the state to file its response to the petition and adjourned the hearing by three weeks.
