HR&CE Dept. cancels administrative sanctions for ₹246-crore wedding halls, commercial complexes

The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has cancelled the administrative authorisation granted for the operation of 29 wedding halls and 17 commercialized complexes, worthy ₹246 crore, utilizing excess funds from temples crossed the State.

The works see commercialized complexes that were to beryllium constructed utilizing funds from the Arunachaleswarar Temple successful Tiruvannamalai (₹6.40 crore) and the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple successful Madurai (₹3 crore), arsenic good arsenic wedding halls astatine the Dhandayudhaswamy Temple successful Palani (₹9.80 crore) and the Sankaranarayanaswamy Temple successful Sankarankoil (₹9.80 crore).

These works were portion of announcements made successful the Assembly from 2022-23 onwards, but operation had not been taken up truthful far. The determination follows assorted orders of the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench).

According to authoritative sources, the Commissioner of HR&CE wrote to the State authorities seeking the removal of these announcements from the Assembly records, pursuing which they were removed.

A elder authoritative said the funds could alternatively beryllium utilised to supply amended amenities for devotees. “We privation to accord apical precedence to queue management, maintaining cleanliness successful temple premises, the proviso of prasadam done the respective temple devasthanams, toilets, cleanable drinking water, annadhanam halls and devotee remainder houses, among different facilities,” the authoritative said.

A erstwhile HR&CE official, who welcomed the move, said that the operation of wedding halls and commercialized complexes was a deviation from the provisions of the HR&CE Act. “Temple funds tin beryllium utilized lone for charitable and spiritual purposes, and wedding halls and commercialized complexes bash not travel nether the ambit of the Act. The section should person a regular programme to cleanable each temples. Many aged temples look problems owed to pigeons, rats, bats and cockroaches,” helium said.