Madras high court gives Tamil Nadu eight weeks to complete sweeping temple safety reforms – Times of India

CHENNAI: Laying down an exhaustive set of guidelines covering things ranging from spiritual to scientific upkeep of temples, idols, assets and staff, the Madras high court has asked state and central governments to do everything to conserve the rich temple heritage of Tamil Nadu.
“There is dire need to manage and conserve our ancient cultural heritage and monuments employing better advanced technology in protecting, preserving and nourishing the same,” said a division bench consisting of Justice R Mahadevan and Justice P D Audikesavalu in its 225-page judgment on Monday.
Passing further orders on a batch of PILs, including suo motu public interest writ proceedings initiated by the high court itself, the bench said the state should constitute a 17-member heritage commission within two months, and declared that no structural alteration or repair of any monument, temple, idol, sculpture or murals notified either under the Central Act or the State Act should take place without the sanction of the commission.
Within eight weeks, the state should also constitute district-level committees, comprising qualified stapathis, experts in history, architecture, murals and conservation besides representative from HR&CE department. The committees shall take stock of all idols in temples which fall within the definition of “ancient monument” or “antique”, prepare a list of such monuments, take photographs and computerize the same.
The HR&CE department must ensure that all temples have strong rooms, which are efficiently secured with latest scientific technology and must be under 24×7 video surveillance with alarm. All the existing ICON Centres must be brought under 24×7 video surveillance with alarm, the bench said.
It then asked the department to file a report within eight weeks listing out the number of temples without trustees, the duration of such vacancy, the particulars of the persons appointed as “fit person” and the steps taken by the department to appoint trustees.
A special tribunal shall be formed to exclusively deal with the matters relating to the religious institutions come under the provisions of the HR&CE Act, such as, disputes on religious affairs, culture, tradition, heritage, inams and recovery of pending rent, validity of lease, illegal encroachment and other temple and mutts land issues. They will be headed by retired district judge as chairman with two or more members from the rank of the retired subordinate judicial officers, the bench said.
On its part, the Union government shall implement the Ancient Monuments Act in letter and spirit, by declaring all religious structures more than 100 years old, including temples, temples’ tanks, mutts, temple chariots, jewels, art, artefacts, and sacred groves, including private denomination temples, as ‘national monuments’ with immediate effect.
The case was then posted after 12 weeks for filing of compliance report.