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A lawsuit has been filed successful the Madras High Court challenging the erstwhile Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government’s determination to deposit hundreds of crores of rupees of surplus temple funds successful State-owned non banking concern corporations specified arsenic Tamil Nadu Power Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation (TNPFC) and Tamil Nadu Transport Development Finance Corporation (TNTDFC).
A summertime abrogation Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and V. Lakshminarayanan connected Wednesday admitted the nationalist involvement litigation petition filed by temple activistic T.R. Ramesh of Indic Collective Trust and directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) section to record its antagonistic affidavit by May 27. The judges decided to instrumentality up the lawsuit for last proceeding during the adjacent week itself.
Senior counsel S. Ravi, assisted by the counsel connected grounds B. Jagannath, urged the Bench to quash a Government Order issued connected February 17, 2026 for amending the Religious Institutions (Custody, Investments and Lending oregon Borrowing of Moneys) Rules, 1963. The counsel said, the amendment paves the mode for the temple funds to beryllium deposited successful highly unsafe non banking concern corporations that were successful the doldrums.
The tribunal was told that TNPFC and TNTDFC had been collecting nationalist deposits and backing superior expenditure and moving superior needs of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) and the State transport corporations respectively. The counsel said, TNPFC had been fixed a BBB minus standing which was the lowest standing that a non banking concern corp indispensable person to judge nationalist deposits.
In his affidavit, the PIL petitioner stated that “TNPFC whitethorn person a perceived vantage of being 100% owned by the Government of Tamil Nadu and that is possibly the lone crushed that prevents its standing from going beneath BBB (-). Any standing beneath BBB(-) would astatine erstwhile incapacitate TNPFC oregon immoderate different non banking concern corp from accepting oregon renewing deposits.”
It was besides brought to the announcement of the tribunal that TNPFC functions wholly arsenic a dedicated backing limb of the State powerfulness assemblage and its arms specified arsenic Tangedco which person an accumulated nonaccomplishment of implicit ₹1.62 lakh crore. Highlighting that the information of TNTDFC was nary different, the litigant said, the surplus temple funds could not beryllium allowed to beryllium utilized for backing State-run institutions.
Observing that the petitioner had raised an absorbing question of law, the judges insisted that the antagonistic affidavit to the PIL petition indispensable beryllium filed wrong a week truthful that the lawsuit could beryllium taken up for last proceeding by adjacent week.
