To
His Excellency,
The Governor of Tamil Nadu
Raj Bhavan
Chennai,600022

CC: The Commissioner,
HR & CE
119, Uthamar Gandhi Salai,Nungambakkam, Chennai- 34,
Subject: Trustee Appointment: Big scam to destroy Hindu temples
Dear Sir,
I wish to bring to your notice a massive scam in the appointment of Trustees to Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu. Trustee is the most important position in the temple as he is the guardian of the deity. In Tamil Nadu, no trustees have been appointed in more than 99% of the temples. The State government through Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowment (HR & CE) has been managing all the affairs of the temples directly which is against Article 26 and Article 26 and violates the fundamental rights of HIndus to manage their religious affairs. The objective is to eliminate the Hindu community from any involvement in the management of temples.

But due to efforts of several temple activists filing cases against the illegal intrusion of HR & CE, the department has been getting jolt after jolt in the Hon'able Madras High Court for it’s recent decisions. The Hon'able court has clearly said, HR&CE or the government cannot take any major decision related to temples without trustees. (Ex: Gold melting, opening new colleges with temple funds etc). To circumvent the court orders, HR&CE is hurriedly trying to fill the positions of trustees in a completely non-transparent manner. Instead of appointing devoted, pious people with unblemished record and strong devotion to God, the HR & CE is trying to appoint people with party affiliations, corrupt individuals with no interest in welfare of temples but want to make money by looting temples as Trustees.

Some of the lacunae in the trustee appointment process are given below:

*Defective Application Form:* The HR & CE has accepted in Madurai bench of Madras High Court that the application form they have distributed so far has deficiencies and they will modify the application form in the future.

*Complete non-transparency in the process:* HR & CE department has a dedicated website but none of the information / documents related to trustee appointment including notifications, application forms, qualifications, required enclosures, Selection criteria, Selection process, number of vacancies etc. HR&CE offices has not given details regarding the selection process.

*Unjust disqualification norm*: The applicant has to give an undertaking that he has not filed case against temple. So somebody who had filed cases to protect the interest of the temple will be disqualified because of this norm. HR&CE want to disqualify all those people who are concerned about temples to be disqualified for trustees. This is ex facie unjust and hence violates article 14.

*No Salary details announced for Trustees:* As per Suo Motu judgement in WP 574, in para 53 Trustees should be paid fixed salaries as per the income of the temple. HR & CE in its notifications has not given any details of salaries of trustees.

*Political appointment*: As per Suo Motu judgement in WP 574, in para 55 and 63, people with political background should not be appointed as trustees. HR &CE has not disclosed this as disqualification. There are lot of party people who visited different HR &CE offices on the last date to submit their forms. The government is planning to fill all trustee positions with DMK people so that they will have a free hand in destroying the temple.
Hindu temples are in dire straits. Many temples that were built 1000 years back are dying because of the neglect and corruption of HR & CE. We need strong trustees who are loyal to the deity and not subservient to any political or other vested interests. It is imperative that the Trustee selection process should be above board and be done with abundant care.

We believe the right thing to do now is to restart the process again by reissuing the correct application form and make the process completely transparent. Since more than 100,000 Trustee recruitment are about to happen, a committee comprising Retired High Court Judge, a representative from major Aadheenams and Mutts should be constituted to appoint trustees. Trustees perform religious role and the government or HR & CE is incompetent to appoint trustees.

We request you to kindly look into this critical issue and prevent wrong people being appointed as Trustees.

Yours sincerely