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The Madras High Court has held that trustees to temples must be
persons who believed in the tenets of Hinduism and who would
preserve protect and promote the best interests of the religious
institution of which they were the trustees.
The court said "atheists have no place on the Board of Trustees of
a Hindu temple. While they have every right not to believe, they
cannot claim a right to manage a religious institution. Such
persons are ineligible for being appointed as trustees".
Mr. Justice R. Jayasimha Babu passed this order on a write petition
filed by the General Secretary. Tamil Nadu State Hindu Munnani, who
apprehended that the government was appointing as temple trustees,
DMK partymen who did not believe in the principles of Hinduism.
The petitioner, Mr. G. Sashikumar said the Chief Minister, Mr. M.
Karunanidhi, had an attitude of hatred towards Hinduism and this
was reflected during the Vinayaga idol procession last year when he
said that Lord Vinayaga was a north Indian God. This government had
no faith in Hinduism. While so, several partymen were being and
were likely to be appointed as temple trustees. If such persons
were appointed there would be problems in conducting rituals and
performing poojas in temples. He said if atheists entered the
temples there was likelihood of corruption and already in many
temples jewels and other articles were being stolen.
He sought a direction to the government to constitute a committee
to scrutinise the qualifications of candidates to be appointed as
trustees to ensure they had faith in Hinduism and its principles.
The Judge, in his order, said freedom of religion was one of the
fundamental rights guaranteed to all citizens. Irrespective of
one's personal beliefs, all valid laws governing religious
institutions have to be administered in a manner intended to
subserve the objects of the statute.
The Judge pointed out that Sec. 26(1) of Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious
and Endowment Act had prescribed qualifications for trustees and
specifically provided that a person who did not profess Hinduism
should not be appointed as a trustee. There could, therefore, be no
room for doubt that the power of the government to appoint trustees
in Hindu temples was confined to choosing from among those who
profess the Hindu faith.
The Judge noted that the petitioner's grievance was not
substantiated by sufficient particulars to warrant any notice being
issued to the government. If there were specific instances where
persons who did not profess faith in Hinduism were appointed as
trustees or those appointed had connived in the theft, loss or
misuse of temples properties, appropriate action could be taken
against such persons, the Judge said and rejected the petition.
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